When Worlds Collide: Sabaku no Gaara
by Axel Demitra
Summary: The Chuunin exams are being held in the Prairie Village. What happens when 5 Jinchuriki meet? Nore importantly, what happens when two of those 5 fall in love with eachother? GaaraXOC Story better than summary, trust me. Permanent hiatus
1. Characters

Okay, so this is the launch of my WWC Sabaku no Gaara series. I'm just transfering this from Quizilla, for those who care. Um, yeah.

**Disclaimer:** I owneth not Naruto or any of it's characters. You'd know if I did, because it'd be called Akatsuki and the main focus would be SasoXDei, then ItaXKisa, ect...

**Claimer:** I own the prairie village and all those from it. Well, kinda. They're based on real people for the most part.

**Warnings:** Mild OOCness later on, bad language, and random comments. Enjoy!

* * *

**Name: **Isameru Iyahon (me) 

**Age: **13

**Birthday: **October 29

**Eye Color: **Black with vertical pupils (like snakes' eyes)

**Hair Color: **Black

**Country/Village: **Snow Country/ Prairie Village (Sogengakure)

**Village Symbol:** Cowboy Hat

**Tattoos/ Piercing: **Kanji for "Snake" on left arm

**Ninja Rank: **Gennin

**Appearance: **I'm a little on the short side and I hate it. My black hair is always in a ponytail and spiked out a little. For some reason, likely because of my eyes, people say that I remind them of a snake.

**Clothes: **I'm usually wearing a short black top that shows my stomach, and black pants that just pass my knees. I have black fingerless gloves that reach my elbows. I also wear black, heel-less sandals. I have my headband around my neck, and my shuriken holster on my right leg.

**Personality: **My friends call me Iya for short and I have a bit of a multiple personality: one minute I'll be nice (Not-evil-Iya, or Eki-Iya) and the next, I'll be trying to kill you (Evil-Iya, or Aku-Iya). The three things I usually think about are boys, my friends, and anything violence related. I consider most things and people in life the world pointless and a waste of time. It is my goal to become the village's Kirikage and be the best ninja ever. It is not hard to get me angry or exited, but I'm normally either bored of emotionless. I had an older brother, but he's dead and so is my mother, meaning that I live alone with my dad. I enjoy making people feel dumb and/or weak. I don't really like doing things and my favorite activity is walking around with my hands in my pockets, just staring at the sky.

* * *

**Squad/Teammates: **Saizu Yureru and Etikomi Risei 

**Sensei: **Boya Kerin

**Name: **Saizu Yureru

**Age: **13

**Birthday: **May 13

**Eye Color: **Brown

**Hair Color:** Brown

**Country/Village: **Snow Country/ Prairie Village (Sogengakure)

**Village Symbol:** Cowboy Hat

**Tattoos/ Piercing: **Kanji for "Dog" between shoulder blades

**Ninja Rank: **Gennin

**Appearance: **Yureru's arm is often bruised because I'm always poking her. She is very tall for her age and teases me a lot. She has unusually sharp canine teeth and really doesn't like them. She is sometimes said to look a little bit like a dog.

**Clothes: **Yureru wears a light blue sleeveless T-shirt with a fishnet top underneath and matching blue arm warmers and shorts. She has her headband around her waist and her shuriken holster on her right leg. She has a black ribbon tied around her left arm.

**Personality: **Yureru is the idiot of the squad but is a determined not to look like one. She and I are often considered rivals as well as very good friends. She is always extremely hyper and is very difficult to calm down. She tends to waste chakra, but rarely seems to get tired.

**Squad/Teammates: **Isameru Iyahon and Etikomi Risei

**Sensei: **Boya Kerin

* * *

**Name: **Etikomi Risei 

**Age: **14

**Birthday: **September 28

**Eye Color: **Purple

**Hair Color: **Black

**Country/Village: **Snow Country/ Prairie Village (Sogengakure)

**Village Symbol:** Cowboy Hat

**Tattoos/ Piercing: **Japanese for "Badger" on back of neck

**Ninja Rank: **Gennin

**Appearance: **Risei is about an inch shorter than Yureru. Some people say that she resembles a badger in some ways.

**Clothes: **Risei wears a black top similar to Yureru's, and white shorts that go down almost to her knees. She has her headband and shuriken holster around her left thigh.

**Personality: **Risei is the smart one of the squad but doesn't like to make us feel dumb. She's usually pretty exited, but can be calmed rather easily.

**Squad/Teammates: **Saizu Yureru and Isameru Iyahon

**Sensei: **Boya Kerin

* * *

Name: Boya Kerin 

**Age: **15

**Birthday: **September 15

**Eye Color: **Pink/Purple

**Hair Color: **Blue

**Country/Village: **Snow Country/ Prairie Village (Sogengakure)

**Village Symbol:** Cowboy Hat

**Tattoos/ Piercing: **Ears Pierced

**Ninja Rank: **Jonin

**Appearance: **Kerin-sensei looks a lot like a samurai, and takes it as a compliment whenever people say that. She has pretty pale skin, but doesn't really care.

**Clothes: **Kerin-sensei usually wears a white top with the selves reaching her elbows, a long, dark blue skirt and black flip-flop sandals. While training us, or doing other Jonin jobs, she wears the traditional Chuunin/ Jonin outfit: a green, long-sleeved shirt, black pants and a dark blue vest with the village's symbol on the back (a cowboy hat). She has her headband around her forehead. She wears dark blue fingerless gloves with a white patch on the back.

**Personality: **Kerin-sensei can act totally nuts at times but in a really lovable way. She doesn't hesitate to call me dumb, but she also picks on Yureru a lot. She can be a hard worker when she wants to, but usually doesn't. She's a rookie Jonin, but still one of the best we've got.

**Squad/Teammates: **Etikomi Risei, Saizu Yureru and Isameru Iyahon

**Sensei: **UNKNOWN

* * *

Name: Buradshaw Kesseki 

**Age:** 14

**Birthday: **August 21

**Eye Color: **Red

**Hair Color: **Brown

**Country/Village:** Snow Country/ Prairie Village (Sogengakure)

**Village Symbol:** Cowboy Hat

**Tattoos/ Piercing: **None

**Ninja Rank:** Chuunin

**Appearance: **Kesseki has an appearance a bit like that of a porcelain doll, but in a good way. She has her hair in buns, one on each side of her head, and a little braid with the leftover hair.

**Clothes: **Kesseki normally wears an orange and yellow dress with a cut on each side. While teaching the students at the Ninja Academy, she wears the traditional Chuunin/ Jonin outfit. She has her headband tied around her right arm.

**Personality: **Kesseki, often called Kess for short, is a Chuunin and she's almost like an assistant sensei to us. She likes everything to be perfect and freaks out if it isn't. That helps us quite a bit with our techniques, so we don't complain. She is one of my best friends and we've known each other since we first started in the Ninja Academy. She tends to be a little over dramatic and likes to exaggerate. She's a great Ninja, despite the fact that she cares more about her clothes. She really loves dogs and owns a half-terrier, half-shitzu named Muffin. She gets offended rather easily, especially when you make fun of her dog.

**Squad/Teammates: **UNKNOWN

**Sensei: **UNKNOWN

* * *

Well? Do you guys like it? Chapter 1 will be up within the hour. Then I'll start working on chapter 2 of Battle of the Bands.

Opal Crimson


	2. Welcome to Sogengakure

Hi. My name is Isameru Iyahon, but my friends call me Iya for short. My teammate's names are Saizu Yureru and Etikomi Risei. Our sensei's name is Boya Kerin. We're an all girl squad from the Hidden Prairie Village. Never heard of it? Then screw you. The Hidden Prairie Village, or Sogengakure, is the most newly created village inhabited mainly by girls. My dad's the Kirikage (our village leader). Cool, huh? The Chuunin Exams are starting next week and Sogengakure's hosting it this year. My team and I are candidates in the exam and we're sure to kick butt. POWER TO THE NINJA! Any who, back to me. I'm a thirteen-year-old Rookie and I'm the shortest, and youngest on my team. Yureru's the tallest and second oldest, so she's always teasing me about it. Risei's the oldest and smartest of us three. We're usually a pretty exited group, but normally only two of us are exited at once. Kerin-sensei's only 15 years-old and she's the best sensei we ever had. Believe it or not, 15 years old is the average age for our Jonin. Now how many villages can say _that_, huh? Okay, on with the story.

We were training, or rather, we where _suposed_ to be training. Instead, Yureru and I were fighting. I had been trying to grab a kunai from a tree, but I couldn't reach it. Of course, Yureru laughed and called me short.

"I am not short!" I shouted.

"You're such a chibi," she teased.

"I am not a chibi, you freakin' giraffe!" I yelled. Yureru walked right up to me.

"Watch me tower over you," she said.

"Watch me poke you," I said, holding my finger up. Yureru yelled and moved back.

"You're an evil shrimp," she said, running.

"I'm gonna' kill you, Yureru!" I called, chasing after her. Before I could catch up, Kerin-sensei grabbed me.

"Oi, let go!" I yelled at her.

"Will you try and beat up Yureru?" She asked.

"Iie," I lied. As soon as she let go of me, I tackled Yureru into the ground.

"Oi! You said that you wouldn't try and beat her up!" Kerin-sensei cried. I would have answered her, but Yureru and I were too busy wrestling. As for Risei, she just spent that whole time laughing.

Of course, Oto-sama found out and decided to lecture.

"Really, Iya. Grow up," he said.

"And if I don't?" I asked, taking a bite out of an apple.

"Then no Chuunin Exam," he decided.

"Growing up," I said quickly. I turned to leave.

"One more thing. A team of Sand Gennin is supposed to be arriving today. I want you to show them around," he ordered. I sighed and left to go find my team.

"Oi, Yureru, Risei! Wait up!" I called when I found them, which by the way, didn't take long. I ran over and explained that I was on tour guide duty. We then noticed a team of foreign Ninjas and, since they were wearing the Sand headbands, we guessed that they were the ones I was supposed to show around.

"He, he. They look like an interesting group. Hm. As far as my lip-reading skills go, it seems that they think Sogengakure isn't interesting enough for them. It seems that they think our Ninja are _weak_ and _pathetic_. Let's go pick on them. We'll see how _pathetic_ they think we are then," I sneered, heading towards them.

"Remember Iya, your dad said no killing without permission," Yureru pointed out, she and Risei reluctantly following.

"Oi, you kids! You know you're not supposed to be in a village other than your own without permission, right?" I said in a threatening tone.

"Relax, girl. We _have_ permission, see?" The only girl in the group said, holding up a passport."We're here for the Chuunin Selection Examinations," she added. I smiled.

"Yeah, I figured. I just felt like saying that."

"So, who exactly _are_ you?" The older boy asked.

"My name is Isameru Iyahon, your tour guide for whatever time of day this is. Just call me Iya. And you are...?"

"My name is-" the boy began.

"Don't care," I interrupted.

"Why are they sending someone so short to show us around?" The girl asked. Right next to me, Yureru started laughing to herself. I glared at her.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"She called you short!" Yureru laughed.

"Shut up Yureru, or I'll kill you," I said darkly. That got the other boy's attention and he finally seemed to be taking an interest in my existence. Yureru stopped laughing and she and Risei left to go find Kerin-sensei. I sighed and told the Sand Gennin to follow.

**(GAARA'S P.O.V)**

I followed the girl, Iya, down the street. She was naming a few "important" places. The places she said were "unimportant", Kankuro named.

"On the left, you see the hospital. On the right, you see an unimportant place," Iya said.

"That would be the Laundromat," Kankuro said, reading off the map he had.

_'Who is she? She seems like an innocent idiot, but when she told her teammate that she would kill her, I could tell she meant it. Is it possible that there's more to this girl than meets the eye? Could she be one of the Prairie __Jinchuriki__ that I've heard about? I'll have to find out.'_ I thought to myself.

"So who's the chatterbox?" Iya asked. She was referring to me.

"My name is Sabaku no Gaara," I answered.

"Hm. Gaara, eh? Doesn't that mean... Never mind. I'm thinking about something else. Left, hotel, right, unimportant," she sighed.

"Um, that would be the-" Kankuro began. Iya suddenly whirled around and glared at him with her snakelike eyes.

"All right, that's it, Mr.I'm-so-smart-that-I-know-everything-about-Sogengakure-even-though-I've-never-been-here-in-my-pathetic-life! If you wanna' be the stinkin' tour guide, then be my freakin' guest!" She shouted, waving her arms around. I was a little surprised at her outburst, but it only seemed to make Kankuro mad. He stepped forward, grabbed Iya by the collar of her shirt and looked right at her with an angry expression on his face. Iya's expression turned emotionless as if she didn't care about Kankuro's rage, and he clearly didn't like it.

"Do you want to repeat that, punk?" He yelled.

"I said: 'All right, that's it, Mr.I'm-so-smart-that-I-know-everything-about-Sogengakure-even-though-I've-never-been-here-in-my-pathetic-life. If you wanna' be the stinkin' tour guide, then be my freakin' guest'" she repeated calmly. That only seemed to make Kankuro even more angry. He brought his fist up to punch her.

"Kankuro. She's right. Let her go," I said, suddenly stepping in. Kankuro apologized and let go of Iya's shirt. She gave me a small nod and stormed off.

**(END P.O.V)**

I found my friends at the ramen shop and I went over to them.

"Oi Risei, Yureru, Kesseki, Kerin-sensei," I sighed, sitting down next to Yureru.

"Hi, and didn't I tell you to only call me 'sensei' while I'm in uniform?" Kerin-sensei said.

"Sure, eh, whatever. Dude, those Sand Ninjas are such nuisances. I hate them," I shared.

"Did you at least find out any of their names?" Yureru asked me.

"Um, let's see... If I'm not mistaken, the dude with red hair and the kanji for love on his forehead's name is Sabaku no Gaara, the weirdo who looks like a clown's name is Kanuko, or something, and I have no idea what the girl's name is," I explained.

"Doesn't 'Sabaku no Gaara' mean 'Selfish demon of the desert'?" Kerin-sensei inquired.

"Hai. Oh, and before I forget, could you get some info on him for tomorrow?" I asked.

"Why should I? I mean, it's not like I get anything out of it," my idiot sensei whined.

"Because my dad's the Kirikage, and I happen to know that you need to do more missions to get 'Jonin of the Year',eh. Now if only it were possible for you to get this inform-" I began.

"Don't do it! It's a trap! It... Um, you're giving me that look again, so I think I'll shut up now," Yureru said. Everyone just kept staring at her.

"I like cheese," Kerin-sensei said randomly, "oh, and uh, I'll get your info. By noon tomorrow, you'll know everything about him, from the day he was born, to his Genjutsu abilities." I thanked her and left. On my way home, I noticed Gaara walking alone and went over to him.

"Oi, Gaara. What's up, eh?" I asked. I had no idea why I felt so comfortable talking to him.

"What do you want?" He demanded emotionlessly. I suddenly realized the reason, but I wasn't 100 percent certain. I needed to find out for sure.

"I feel bad about ditching you guys today. Anyone in this village will tell you that I've got a really bad temper eh, but that's just because of what I am," I said, not even realizing what I ended up saying.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"Um, never mind. So, uh... Yeah."

"If you have nothing to say, then leave."

"And if I don't, eh?"

"Then I'll kill you.""

If I had a nickel for every time somebody said that, I'd be rich. No, I don't think you _can_ kill me, eh Shukaku." Gaara glared at me. Sand began wrapping around my leg until it reached my neck.

_'Oh Hell, this is bad. This is really bad.'_

"What did you just call me?"


	3. Past and Explanation

"I didn't mean it in a bad way. I mean, if I were insulting you, then I'd also be insulting myself, eh," I gasped.

"What do you mean," he growled.

"I mean that I'm the exact same way as you are."

"What the Hell are you talking about?"

"If you'll loosen the sand. Thank you. Let's go somewhere else. Everyone around here just looks at me, it's creepy."

Gaara followed me to the roof of the Kirikage building in the center of the village.

"See, I was born in the Hidden Rain Village, as were my two teammates. At the time, the village was 'experimenting' to create the 'ultimate human weapon'. After many failed attempts to do whatever it is they were doing, they decided to try sealing a demon inside someone. They tried with three different demons: the 5-tailed dog Houkou, the 7-tailed badger Shichibi, and the 8-tailed snake Hachimata. They sealed Houkou inside a one-year-old girl, Shichibi inside a seven-month-old girl, and Hachimata inside a three-week-old girl, me. About two years later, my dad and I, my mother and older brother were killed in battle, moved to Sunagakure. When I was five, we moved here and soon after, my dad became Kirikage," I told him.

Gaara kept looking at me, but didn't say anything. I was about to ask a question, but was interrupted.

"IYA!!! I GOT YOUR THINGGIES!!"

I looked down to see my idiot sensei waving a folder around.

"Stupid baka. I'll be right back," I told Gaara, jumping down from the roof we were on.

"What the Hell do you want? I'm a little busy, eh," I snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry. I got your stupid papers," Kerin-sensei said, handing me the folder.

"That was quick, thanks."

I jumped back onto the roof and sat back down next to Gaara. I opened the folder and began flipping through the pages until I saw something that interested me. Right at the top of the page, written in bold was one word: **PAST**

I could feel Gaara staring at me as I read the papers in front of me. I couldn't believe what was written. A tear rolled down my cheek as I read the last word.

"Why are you crying?" Gaara demanded.

Up until that moment, I hadn't realized that the very person I was reading about was sitting right next to me with an irritated expression on his face. I quickly lifted my head.

"Oh kuso," I said.

"What are you reading?" He asked.

I didn't know what to say.

"Nothing," I answered, standing up.

He also stood up and he tried to grab the folder from me. I pulled it away and stuck my tongue out at him childishly. He tried to grab it again, making me loose my balance and causing me to fall over the edge of the roof. Gaara grabbed me hand before I could fall far and helped me up.

"Thanks. I don't usually fall. I guess I forgot that this roof is slanted," I laughed.

Gaara picked up the fallen pages and read the one I was crying over. A sad, yet gentle look appeared in his eyes.

"So you really find this sad?" He asked.

I nodded. He handed me my papers.

"Sorry I made you fall off the roof," Gaara apologized.

I was confused.

"It's okay. Um, sorry I invaded your privacy and read about your past without your permission. I don't get it, eh. You kill people for a hobby, yet you seem to care. Why?" I asked.

Gaara looked at the sky.

"No-one has ever been so..." He stopped to find the right word.

"Touched? Kind? Understanding? Sympathetic? Not a complete retard?" I suggested.

"No-one has ever been so understanding since I was six."

"Of course I understand. I mean, I've lived almost the same way you have. Let's sit down, eh. That way, I can't tell that you're taller than I am." I sat down, urging him to do the same.

It was true that he was taller than me, but only by an inch.

"Honestly though, your life sucks way more than mine. I mean, your dad tried to have you killed when you were six! My dad just makes my go to sleep, then wake up at like, five o'clock in the morning, in the middle of freakin' winter, eh."

Gaara asked if that was a bad thing.

"Hell, yeah! For me any ways. Of course, I'm semi-coldblodded, so I don't do well in the cold. That's great, eh, living here in the freakin' Snow Country. Not to mention the fact that I hardly ever sleep and when I do, I can't wake up, eh. God, I've broken so many alarm clocks in the past year, eh. Dude, I hate Jinchuriki life."

Gaara nodded in agreement. I sighed and stared at the clouds.

_'So the demon of the sand isn't as bloodthirsty as everyone says he is. He's pretty cute too. I wonder why he has that tattoo on his __forehead?__ Oh well. I guess I'll ask later. I wonder if __Oto-sama's__ done work __yet?__ Shit, there was something I was supposed to do tomorrow, but I can't remember what it was. Hell, this __sucks.'_

___**'Ssso**__** what do you think of him, **__**Iyahon?'**_

Piss off, you stupid demon.' 

There was a sudden pain in my chest and I began coughing up blood. Gaara asked if I was all right. I lied and said that I was.

_'All right, I'm sorry. You're not stupid, that's the fish. Happy?'_

The pain left and I sighed in relief. I apologized to Gaara and excused myself, promising to meet him at the same spot at six A.M. I went home, ate, then went directly to bed.

**(5 A.M. THE NEXT MORNING)**

My alarm clock went off. I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep.

**(5:05 A.M.)**

My alarm clock went off again and, once again, I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep.

**(5:30 A.M.)**

My alarm clock went off for about the 15th time that half-hour. Rather than hitting snooze, I threw the clock at the wall, causing it to break. I lied down again.

**(5:35 A.M.)**

"Aw, kuso!" I shouted, sitting up and remembering were I had to be in less than 30 minutes. I finally got out of bed, got ready, and grabbed an apple on my way out the door.

**(6:13 A.M.)**

"Sorry I'm late," I panted.

Gaara didn't say anything.

"Are you mad at me now, eh?" I asked.

"No," he answered.

**He'sss mad. You know, you should really consssider showing up on time. Good luck coming up with an excussse for Kerin. You know how she getsss when you're late for training.'**

"Holly kuso!!! I totally forgot!!!! Aaaahhhhh, I'm such an idiot!!!! Oh God, she's gonna' kill me!! Listen Gaara, I really have to go. Um, how about you meet me at the ramen place thinggy at say 5:30, okay?" I smiled.

Gaara looked irritated and sighed.

"Fine. Just don't be late again."

I did a hand sign and disappeared, reappearing were my team was.

"Yo," I smiled, holding up the peace sign.

"You're late again Iya," Kerin-sensei scolded.

I sighed and told her to bite me. After training, Risei, Yureru, Kerin-sensei and I went to the ramen shop with Kesseki. Gaara was already there. After everyone was introduced, we sat down and started talking. After a couple minutes, we turned our attention to some random boy from the Hidden Leaf Village eating ramen like there was no tomorrow. There were about seven empty bowls next to him. Two people, probably his teammates, were standing behind him.

"Ten bucks says that that kid can't pay his bill," I said quietly.

"Deal," Kerin said, shaking my hand.

The owner of the shop walked over to the boy. The boy began searching his pockets. I sighed and walked over to them.

"There's a problem?" I asked.

"This kid can't pay his bill, not that it's any of your business, Iya-sama-_ette_," the owner answered.

"He's with me," I said emotionlessly.

The owner grunted and left.

"Wow, thanks! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, from Konohagakure and I'm going to be Hokage!" The boy exclaimed.

"No problem. Isameru Iyahon, pleasure to meet you."

"I guess I owe you ten bucks," Kerin sighed, taking out her walet and handing me a bill.

I put it in my back pocket and looked at Naruto's teammates. One was a girl with pink hair, and the other was a boy with black hair and eyes. They were both taller than me.

"What about you? What's your name?" I asked the boy.

"Hm. Uchiha Sasuke," he answered.

"So you're the Uchiha chibi that got spared. No wonder," I said.

Sasuke glared at me.

"Who are you calling a chibi? You're the one who's short."

I disappeared, then reappeared behind him. I kicked him in the back, which sent him flying a bit, then stepped on his chest.

"If you ever call me short again, I'll kill you."

I walked away, leaving everyone behind.I walked down the street, mentally kicking myself.

**_'Wow, remind me to never call you ssshort. Then again, it'sss not like you can do anything.'_**

_'Please Hachimata I'm not in the mood.'_

**Sssorry** I don't know why you're sssoupsssetIt'sss okay. Oh, don't cry! You know I hate it. Ugh fine, I'll try and sssaysssomething comforting. Kussso, couldn't you get mad at sssomeone I know? Like that Kyuubi boy.' 

_'Wait, that Naruto kid has the nine-tailed Kyuubi sealed inside him? Woah. Seems like all the Jinchuriki are coming together.'_

By now, I was sitting on a bench on the middle of the miserable excuse of the woods. I sighed and stared at the clouds.

_'They have it so easy. They're not bound to any duties or anything. All they do is float there, gathering rain particles. They don't have to worry about anything. No work, no battles, no nothing. Sometimes, I wish I were a cloud. Other times, it's birds I envy.'_

The feeling of someone putting an arm around my waist brought me back to reality. I turned my head and saw that it was Gaara.

"Hey, why'd you leave? I was worried when you didn't come back," he said.

There was a gentle tone in his voice. I closed my eyes and put my head on his shoulder.

"It's funny, no-one ever seemed to really understand me. Not even Risei and Yureru, who are in the same situation as I am. You know Gaara, it's weird, but I feel like I've known you for a lot longer than just a day," I said.

I could feel Gaara putting his other arm around me.

"I'll always understand you. Always."

* * *

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, cuteness!! 


	4. More Explanations and Training

Almost a half an hour had passed.

"Are you still awake?" Gaara whispered.

"Yes," I answered. I opened my eyes and looked him.

"Um, Gaara?"

"Hm? What?"

"Why are you being so kind? I mean, I've always heard that you're insanely bloodthirsty and that you kill people just for looking at you."

"That's pretty much what your friends said about you, so why aren't you trying to kill me?" This conversation wasn't going anywhere and I told him so. Gaara let his arm drop.

"I'm not going to kill you because I only kill people that have done something to me. I don't go killing random people just for the heck of it," I explained, "now it's your turn, eh. Answer."

"From what I've heard, you and I are alike in quite a few ways. We're both hated by our village, we both tend to kill people, we both-"

"I get it. We're both demons and you couldn't kill one of your own, not to mention that we're both alike in many ways. That's all you had to say, eh," I told him. Gaara chuckled softly. I sighed and looked up again. It was night and the stars were out.

"Aren't they beautiful?" I asked. Gaara moved closer to me.

"Mhm. You really like staring at the sky, don't you?" I spent the rest of the hour pointing out different constellations and explaining what they represent. Gaara's eyes never left me for a second.

"You know, you can tell to shut up any time now eh," I said. Gaara chuckled again and asked why he would do that. I smiled at him.

"You're so nice, you know that?" We were quiet for a while.

"What does pain feel like?" Gaara randomly asked. I was both surprised and confused.

"You mean you've never felt pain before?" Gaara shook his head. I thought for a moment.

"Now how do I explain this? Hm, let's see... I got it!" I quickly brought my hand up and before he could blink, I slapped him across the face. Gaara was really suprized.

"What the hell was that for?" He demanded.

"You were the one that wanted to know what pain feels like eh," I laughed. Gaara put his hand over the red mark on his cheek. I yawned.

"Are you tired?" He asked.

"Hm, no. I just have a habit of yawning whenever nothing's going on. Okay, is it just me, or is it cold out here?" I said, shivering.

"It's just you. I think your shirt has something to do with it," Gaara answered. I was honestly freezing. I brought my legs up and moved closer to him.

"I'm not kidding Gaara, I'm really cold. My body's sensitive to low temperature eh." Probably realizing how serious I was being, he hugged me. I dropped my legs and he pulled me closer to him.

"If you're so sensitive, then why don't you wear a different shirt?" He asked softly.

"It's been an abnoramlly warm year. Normally, we have snow pretty much all year," I answered. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder.We stayed like that for pretty much the rest of the night, which wasn't long. When the sun rose it wasn't as cold. I told Gaara I had to go train with my team again and left.

**(GAARA'S P.O.V)**

_'Why the Hell am I acting this way? This is stupid. She's just a random girl with the 8-tailed snake sealed inside her,'_ I yelled mentally.

_**'I think you know the reason, you just don't want to admit it. You love her. Of course, there's always the alternative to confessing your feelings, and that's killing her.'**_ Shukaku suggested. I didn't respond. But what if he was right? What if I _did_ love her? Did that mean that our mission would fail? I drove the thought out of my head and tried to forget about her, but I couldn't. I needed to see her again.

**(END P.O.V)**

I ran home and put on a black zip-up sweater, then met up with my team.

"Oi, Risei, Yureru. Kerin here yet?" I asked. They shook their heads. Kerin arrived ten minutes later.

"Oi guy- Woah! Iya, you're actually here on time!" Kerin-sensei exclaimed.

"Bite me," I replied. Kerin began lecturing me on the importance of respecting her and all that crap. I wasn't really listening. Kerin was just about to assign laps, when Kesseki arrived.

"Oi, guys! Today's my day off, so I decided to come watch you train," she explained.

"All right guys, let's practice our balance," Kerin-sensei ordered.

"Why don't you guys practice your kicking instead?" Kess suggested. We decided to go with that. Yureru went first. Her kick looked like it was for dance, or kicking someone in the underside of the jaw. I went next and did a side kick. Last was Risei. She took a couple small, quick steps forward, and made a small kick that looked like she was passing a soccer ball to someone less than three feet away. Sweat drops appeared on our foreheads. (1)

"Oi, Risei... What the hell was that?" I asked. Risei shrugged and said that it was her kick. Like, no duh. Training, as usual, was Hell. When the torture was finally over, we headed to the ramen shop. On our way, we were stopped by an interesting looking team, and by interesting, I mean awkward. The girl had brown hair in two buns, one on each side of her head. Sound familiar? One of the boys had black hair tied in a low pony tail and lavender eyes. The second boy was wearing a green jumpsuit and he had bushy eyebrows and a bowl cut. An older man, probably their sensei, looked exactly like him.

"Excuse me, is this the Hidden Prairie Village of Sogengakure?" Bowl-cut senior asked. Kerin nodded and I asked who they were.

"I am the flamboyant Master Guy," the Jonin exclaimed.

"And I am Rock Lee, the handsome devil of Hidden Leaf Village," Mini-Guy answered.

"Okay, first of all, we have enough lunatics already, we don't need any more. Second of all, if you're the handsome devil, I'd hate to see the ugly angel. Third of all, why the Hell are you two wearing matching outfits? And fourth of all, what the Hell does 'flamboyant' mean?" I shouted.

"In order, not everyone in Sogengakure is a lunatic, the 'ugly angel' is probably that Sasuke, I don't know why they're matching, and 'flamboyant' means girlish," Risei answered.

"Wait, so this guy's gay!?" I exclaimed.

"It can also mean full of energy," she added. Rock Lee started yelling at me, and then the girl started yelling at him.

"Sorry about Lee. My name is Tenten. This is Neji," she said.

"Isameru Iyahon. This is Risei, Yureru, Kesseki and Kerin," I replied.

"The exam starts tomorrow," Kesseki reminded us.

"Yeah, we know," I sighed.

"Did I tell you guys that I'm the proctor for the first part of the test?" Kerin-sensei asked.

"Only about twenty times. What _is_ the first test anyway?" Risei wondered.

"We can't tell you," Kess answered. There was a long silence.

"I like cheese," Kerin said.

"You're an idiot," I told her.

"Cheese is good."

"You are really stupid."

"I want to marry cheese."

"... No comment..."

"I'm crazy." That was Yureru's first comment in almost an hour. We split up and got ready for the Chuunin Exams to begin the next day.


	5. Begining the Test

Where is she?" Risei and I were waiting in front of the Ninja Academy waiting for Yureru. The Academy was being used for the Chuunin Exam. We eyed the small flood of Gennin, searching for our teammate.

"The one day I'm early, she has to go and be late. That's ironic, eh," I complained.

"I have a boyfriend," Risei said after a silence.

"Really? Who, eh?"

"Sasuke."

"What the Hell? No kidding? But you haven't even known him for a friggin' day, how can he be your boyfriend?"

"Isn't Gaara _your_ boyfriend?"

"Hm, what? Nah. We're just friends eh."

"Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late." Yureru had finally arrived.

"Where have I heard that line, Iya?" Risei teased.

"Oh, shut up, eh. Come on, let's go," I ordered, leading my team into the Academy.We headed to the main classroom and as soon as we walked in, loud music started playing.

"Aaaahhhhh!!! Yureru!! I told you _not_ to bring the friggin' music eh, you baka!" I yelled.

"I'm sorry! I thought you said not to _forget_ to bring the music!" She responded.

"Well turn it off, baka!"

"I can't! The button's stuck!"

"Aaahhhh! Gimme' that! Ugh, what the fuck? Okay, you know what? Plan 'B'." I threw the mini-portable-CD player thinggy on the ground and it broke, as did the CD.

"Um that wasn't mine," Yureru said.

"Oh kuso, who's was it?" I asked."Kerin-sensei's."

"Oh kuso."

"The CD wasn't mine either. That was Kesseki's"

"Oh hell. Someone kill me right now before she does! Um, let's go blend in with the people. Right now, we stand out like that kid that was eating seven bowls of ramen at once." My team and I moved to about the middle of the room near some other Sogengakure teams.

* * *

I'm sorry to interrupt the story, but my lawyer says that I have to introduce some of the other characters, or else I could get sued. So as not to waste too much time, I'm just going to put their name and squad number. I case I forgot to mention earlier, my team is squad 18.

**Name:** Mizu Aki

**Squad Number:** 32

**Name:** Chikara

**Squad Number:** 32

**Name:** Midori Kieko

**Squad Number:** 32

**Name:** Washi Kin

**Squad Number:** 13

**Name:** Hime Orie

**Squad Number:** 13

**Name:** Tsuki

**Squad Number:** 13

**Name:** Okami Aethen

**Squad Number:** 4

**Name:** Kimimaru

**Squad Number:** 4

**Name:** Iwa Tatsuni

**Squad Number:** 4

**Name:** Fumi Hikumo

**Squad Number:** 11

**Name:** Orime

**Squad Number:** 11

**Name:** Isoide Kana

**S****quad Number:** 11

Back to the story.

* * *

"Oh hell. Someone kill me right now before she does! Um, let's go blend in with the people. Right now, we stand out like that kid that was eating seven bowls of ramen at once." My team and I moved to about the middle of the room near some other Sogengakure teams.

"Hey, guys. Nice entrance," Aki said. I ignored her.

"So all you guys are entered? Cool," Yureru said.

"Yeah, and we're gonna' kick everyone's asses and it's gonna' be awesome! WOOHOO!" Kana exclaimed. She always had lots of energy.

"Calm down. Don't want to embarace yourself like they did," Orime teased. I glared at Yureru, who just shrugged. All of a sudden, there was the sound of someone yelling that he was going to become Hokage and telling everyone to believe it. Risei, Yureru and I pushed our way to the front and saw Sasuke's team, as well as two other ones and some older guy talking to them.

"Yureru, what's that guy saying eh?" I demanded. Yureru closed her eyes, did some hand signs and began speaking every word that the older guy said.

"'Believe it or not, those Prairie Ninjas are something to worry about; especially three of them, known as the Prairie Jinchuriki. You see those girls in the front? That's them. Saizu Yureru, Etikomi Risei and Isameru Iyahon. I would recommend you avoid them... I'll show you. You see these cards? They have information on every person in this room. Let's see, who should we start with? How about Isameru Iyahon... She has the eight-tailed snake sealed inside her, she's done four D-rank missions, two C-ranks, seven B-ranks, and get this, thirteen A-ranks!... Yeah, but one of her teammates can't fight that well and the other's an idiot... Come to think of it, compared to some other villages, Sogengakure's Ninjas suck.'" That pissed me off, and I was going to let him know. Before my teammates could stop me, I was grabbing the guy by the throat.

"So our ninjas suck, eh? My teammates are idiot Ninjas who can't fight, eh? At least they won't be the ones with a broken neck!" I dug my nail into his skin, causing blood to trickle down my hand.

"Iya! Stop it!" Risei shouted. I growled, and threw the guy to the ground.

"I just have seven words for you: Don't mess with the friggin' Prairie Ninjas." I turned around and yawned.

"Risei, how long until the exam starts, eh?" I asked in my usual tone.

"Hey you! What's your problem?" I turned and faced the person yelling at me. It was Sasuke's pink-haired teammate.

"Hm? What are you talking about, Pinky?" I asked, bored out of my skull.

"What do mean what am I talking about? I mean that one second you're trying to kill Kabuto, and the next, you're acting like it never even happened! Explain that!" She yelled. I shrugged.

"I just hate it when people insult my team. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, but there's something wrong with trying to _kill_ people for it!" A girl with blonde hair shouted.

"Mind your own buisness, Barbie," I yawned. All of a sudden, the door flew open and Kerin-sensei, followed by a group of Chuunin walked in.

* * *

REVIEWETH!! Also, I do not have a lawyer, just to let you know. 


	6. The Written Exam

"What? The only person stupider than Yureru is the proctor for a written exam? But she has the I.Q of a rubber chicken, eh!" I exclaimed.

"But Iya, rubber chickens aren't alive," Risei pointed out.

"That's my point."

"Wait, so I'm smarter than her?" Yureru asked.

"No."

"All right, if everyone would line up, I'll hand you a piece of paper with a random number on it. That number is where you'll be sitting," Kerin-sensei -- I mean, Kerin-proctor-- ordered. We did as she said and compared our numbers.

"I got number 63. Are there even 63 seats in the class?" I asked.

"Probably. Oh well. It doesn't matter to me, I have 32," Risei said.

"Oh yeah, well I have... What the heck? What number is this?" Yureru wondered.

"Your paper's upside-down, stupid. See, this is why people mock us Prairie Ninjas," I sighed.

"Forty-seven. That's what I got," my idiot teammate announced. I rolled my eyes.

"Now, everyone to their seats, now!" Kerin shouted. As I walked to the seat numbered 63, I noticed Gaara and I wished him luck, but for some reason, he ignored me. Insulted and confused, I sat down at my spot. Yureru was sitting two rows in front of me diagonally, Risei was closer to the front of the room, Gaara was in the row in font of me, and the Uchiha runt, as I will now call him, was sitting directly behind me. Kerin explained the rules and told us to begin. I flipped over my test and read the first question.

_'What the fuck? I can't understand the first question! Oh __man,__ and they only get harder, eh! Okay, deep breath. __**"Explain the circumference of the **__**kunai's**__** ring and compare it to **__**Migihime's**__** Principal hypothesis while giving full detail of the..."**__ What the __fuckin__' Hell does this mean? Who the heck is __Migihime__? I'm only a Rookie! __Kerin__-sensei never taught us this! Ugh, kill me now!'_ I started banging my head on the desk. It was the only thing you could hear in the dead-quiet room.

"Iya, stop it," Kerin said. I glared at her. _'Don't tell me to stop it, asshole. This is your fault to begin with. You didn't prepare us properly, sensei!'_ I thought with bitterness.

___**'Jussst**____**relaxsss**____**Iyahon**______**What'sss**__** the **__**quessstion**____** Oh, **__**that'sss**____**easssy**__**. The answer **__**isss**__** 15 over two divided by the **__**sssquare**__** root of the diameter, multiplied by the **__**csssircumfrenssse**__**. Got it?'**_

_'What? Are you serious Can you repeat that Wait, slow down Okay... MhmGot it, thanks.Next question.Um...Hm What the Hell? This makes no sense! Do you get it, Hachimata?'_ No answer. I took it as a no. I took the cap off of the water bottle I had attached to my waist and dipped my finger in the water. I drew a line on the table and it turned into a clear snake made of water.

_"Now go get me the answer,"_ I whispered so quietly, I hardly thought I had said it. The snake slithered off, but quickly returned, leaving a trail of water on my paper where the answer for the second question was supposed to be. I let it dry and the answer was neatly printed where the water once was.

_'Wow, whoever Hebigimi stole this answer from, they sure have neat writing. I wish I wrote that neatly,'_ I thought to myself. I turned my head a bit to see how Yureru was doing. She was holding her paper, and she looked so freaked out that I honestly thought she was going to eat her test. I chuckled quietly to myself and continued working. For the record, I was cheating.

"All right, pencils down," Kerin-sensei ordered. I sighed and did as she said.

_'Kuso, only seven questions done. Hm. Risei probably got them all, but Yureru...'_ Yureru was panicking even more than before.

_"It's time for the tenth and final question. Here are the rules..."_ Kerin-proctor-sensei-dude started explaining the rules, but I just ignored her up until the part when she said that anyone who fails this question automatically fails the test. Trying to remain calm, I closed my eyes and did a couple hand signs.

_'Hey, Yureru.'_

_**'What? I answered questions! I answered 14!!'**_

_'Um, there were only nine questions so far, eh. Never mind. Yureru, I think you should drop out of the exam. Before you say anything, I'll tell you why. I honestly don't think that you can answer this last question.'_

_**'WHAT!!! I'm not that stupid, and I'm not giving up! ****If you want me to give up so bad, then why don't you?'**_

_Fine, I will!'_

_**'Ahhhh!! No, wait!! I was just kidding!!'** _

I ignored her and began slowly raising my hand. I heard someone, probably Yureru, slam their hand on the table.

"Don't you dare give up, you idiot!" Yureru shouted. She was standing up and pointing at me. I lowered my arm, surprised. Everyone was looking at Yureru and I.

"You're always calling me stupid, and an idiot, and things like that, but at least I don't give up that easily! Maybe I'm not as smart as you, but I'm not the one backing down, now am I? Don't just ignore me, Iya!" Yureru yelled. I was banging my head on the table during her freak-out, but I heard every word of it.

"Yureru, shut up and sit down. If no-one else is giving up, then it's time for the tenth question," Kerin said. It was dead quiet. Someone coughed. Kerin glared at Kesseki, who jumped and turned on some dramatic music.

"Now, for the tenth, and final question. Now, when I'm done speaking, I want all of you do jump up and down, because every single person in this room... Passes!" My very hyper sensei shouted, throwing papers into the air. The Ramen-Kid (a.k.a Naruto, I think) and Kana jumped from their seats and started cheering and... Would you call it dancing?

"So then, what were the other questions for?" Tenten asked.

"To test how good you could get information without getting caught," Kerin explained.

"So that means that the score for the other nine questions don't count, eh?" I asked.

"Right. And now that you have all passed the-" Kerin was interrupted when the door slammed open and an older woman, about twenty, walked in.

"My name is Aiki Miho, and I'm the proctor for the second part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. Kesseki, would you please turn that music off? Kerin is done her little speech," Miho said.

"Actually Miho, you interrupted it," Kerin snapped, glaring at the new proctor. Miho ignored her.

_'Aiki, eh? Isn't her family like, the Boya family's rival? That would explain all the glaring, eh,' _I thought to myself.

"Now that Kerin's finally done yammering, you can all follow me. By the way Yureru, that's not a suggestion." Miho, followed by an rather large group of Gennin and Chuunin, left the building. Yureru, Risei and I were walking together.

_'Stupid bitch. No-one but me friggin' makes fun of my friggin' teammates,'_ I thought angrily.

"Relax, Iya. It's not that big a deal," Yureru said. I sighed and looked at the clouds, still walking. We reached the spot that Miho was leading us to. It was a large, erie-looking forest, surrounded by gate. I whistled.

"Wow, that's one heck of a big forest. It'd probably be easy to get lost in there," I yawned.

"This is The Forest of Nine-Gates. This is where the second part of the exam will be taking place," Miho explained.

"Why is it called 'The Forest of Nine-Gates'? Is it because the person who named it couldn't count?" I shouted. A few people laughed.

"Very funny, Iya. As a mater of fact, the 'Nine' simply means that it's a multiple of nine!" Miho's voice gradually got louder as she spoke, so in the end, she was yelling.

"Now for the explanations. See these?"

"No!"

"Shut up, Iya. Like I was saying, these are the scrolls of Life and Death."

"Why, did people die holding them?" This time, Miho ignored me.

"Each team will be given one of these scrolls."

"Why only one? Is this village to poor to afford enough for everyone to have one of each?" Some random guy shouted, trying to be funny. I fake coughed.

"Riiiiiiight. The point of this test is to get both of these scrolls and make it to the tower in the middle in five days. Anyone who either looks at the inside of the scroll, or passes the time limit fails. Also, if one of the team's members dies or is unable to continue, you also fail."

"So that means there are so many freakin' ways to fail. I wonder if we're allowed to kill people? If we can, then I'm okay," I half-mumbled to myself.

"You can do whatever it takes to get the other scroll; even kill people."

"WOOHOO!! YAY, KILLING PEOPLE!!" I screamed. A few people looked at me.

"You have until noon tomorrow to prepare. Anyone who arrives later will be disqualified. You may go," Miho announced.

"So what's the plan, Iya?" Yureru asked me. We were sitting on top of the Kirikage building's roof.

"For the exam? Beats me. Maybe we should come up with a password, or something eh," I suggested.

"Like what?" Risei wondered.

"Something simple, yet unguessable. How about the question 'When's lunch,' and the answer will be quarter to one. As for getting the scroll, I think that we should get as far as possible in the first five minutes, then hang around 'till sundown. Then at night, we head straight to the tower. If we happen to run into anybody, we kill them and take their scroll. If not, then we stop and wait for the next night. Chances are, we'll find someone along the way to kill eh," I yawned.

"Why only at night?" Yureru asked.

"I get it. That way we'll run into less people and we'll waste less time," Risei explained. I nodded and looked at the clouds. A bird flew by and landed on a tree. I sighed.

"What's the mater, Iya?" Yureru asked.

"Hm, what? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of how lucky birds are, eh. I mean, they're just so free. They don't have to worry about anything. Don't you guys agree, eh?" I responded. There was no response, save for Yureru's comment of how lazy I was. I laughed and agreed with her. I looked at the ground and saw Gaara walking alone.

"So we're okay with the plan? Good. Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow. And don't worry, I'll be there early," I assured my team, before jumping off the roof and running to him.

"Oi Gaara! What's up?" I smiled.

"Oh, it's you again. What do you want?"

**(YURERU'S P.O.V)**

Me and Risei watched Iya and Gaara fight. Well actually, it was more like Iya yelling at him, but it was still pretty funny.

"What the hell do you mean by that? What's your problem, eh? I mean one minute, you're cold and insensitive, the next, you're being really nice and... and... Caring, and now you're acting like I'm some random kid that never leaves you alone! Why?" Iya screamed. There was a pause, where Gaara said something that I couldn't hear. Whatever it was, it made Iya mad enough to slap Gaara across the face, leaving a red mark on his cheek.

"You sexist jackass!!" Iya turned around and started walking away, but Gaara grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around. He grabbed her other arm and made her look at him. Risei jumped a little, but didn't do anything else. I laughed a little to myself.

"What's so funny?" Risei asked."If you look at them at a certain angle, it almost looks like they're kissing," I answered. They started talking. Sadly, I couldn't hear what they were saying.

**_'Awww, don't they make a cute couple? You know what'd be funny? If you were to push them together and make them kiss! That'd be hilarious!'_** Houkou barked. I laughed a little, thinking that it would be pretty funny. 

"Don't even think about it, Yureru. You know that if you do, Iya'll just find some twisted way to get revenge," Risei warned.

"Yeah, you're right. Oh well," I sighed.

**(END P.O.V)**

"I said, 'let go'," I growled at the red-haired boy.

"What if I don't?" Gaara responded.

"Trust me, you don't want to know eh," I sneered. Gaara squeezed my wrist. I tried not to show that it was hurting me. He finally let go of me and I started to leave.

"Iya, wait." I stopped and turned around.

"What now?"

"I need to ask you about something."

"Like what?"

"Can we talk somewhere else? Your teammates are watching us and it's a little weird." I agreed and we both disappeared into the forest.

"So what'd you need to ask me, eh?" I asked. Gaara looked away and I could see him blushing.

"You like someone, don't you, eh?" I gasped. He nodded slightly.

"Well, who is it?" I was getting impatient. He opened his mouth to answer when...

* * *

OMG CLIFFY!!! Hi. I like pie. Chapter 2'll be up tomorrow of Friday. Possibly even later today.

-Opal Crimson-


	7. Random Shower of Needles

**WARNING:** mild OOCness for the rest of the series, and mild language. There. Now I don't have to say it anymore. Not that anyone asked me to in the first place.

* * *

Random shower of needles! I screamed a bit and closed my eyes, ready to be stabbed to death, but nothing happened. I nervously opened my eyes, only to see that Gaara and I were being sheltered by a rooftop of sand. Needles were randomly scattered on the ground. Just at random, my headband fell off. I picked it up and noticed that the material thinggy was torn at the side.

"Didn't see that coming eh," I laughed nervously.

All of a sudden, I felt the cold blade of a kunai pressed against my neck. My eyes widened, as did Gaara's. Surprized, I dropped my headband.

"You know, you really shouldn't lower your guard right after an attack," a voice behind me sneered.

Blood slowly trickled down my throat as the kunai was forced into my skin. Gaara's hands were now in fists.

"Let go of her," he growled.

Sand began slowly flowing from the gourd on his back.

_**'Iyahon, move! Do sssomething! Anything, jussst move!'**_

_****__'I... I can't! Would it kill you to lend me a hand? Er... You know what I mean,'_ I asked mentally of the demon.

"I suggest that you don't move, unless you want a decapitated friend," the person behind my sneered.

I could feel Hachimata slightly taking control of my body.

"I sssugest you get away from me, unlesss you want a decapitated ssself," I, or rather Hachimata, hissed.

The guy pulled the kunai away, then went to stab me in the side of the neck. I ducked, turned a bit, and kicked him in the jaw. He staggered a little, but quickly regained his balance.

"Why you little... I'm going to kill you!" He shouted.

Sand immediately engulfed his body.

"Any last words?" Gaara asked monotonously.

The sand was slowly tightening.

"Just this: What once belonged to the Hidden Rain Village will once again belong to the- AAAHHHH!!!!!"

Sand and blood flew everywhere.

"Great. Now I have to go wash my hair, eh. Thanks for saving my ass, by the way," I smiled.

"Don't mention it. Were you scared?" Gaara smirked.

"No."

"Then why did you scream?"

"... Shut up!" Gaara sighed.

"Why are you so worried any ways, eh?" I demanded.

"Because I... I love you," he answered shyly.

"Eh? But you hardly know me!"

"I know it's stupid, but I can't help it."

_'This is awkward. I mean, he loves me? Damn, and I think I love him too! This could so mess with our chances of passing the exam! But still... Ahg! I HATE LIFE!! SO MANY PAIN DECESIONS!!'_

"No Gaara, it's not stupid, eh. 'Cause you see... Aw man, any way I say it will sound so friggin' gay! You know what? I love you too, eh!"

_**'Awwww, how cute! Iyahon and Gaara, sssitting in a tree-'**_

_****__No. You, shut up!'_

I picked up my broken headband and sighed.

"I guess I'd better go fix this stupid thing. I'll come find you in like, a half an hour, 'Kay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Walking back to my house, I noticed Risei, the Uchiha Runt, Yureru, Rock Lee, Kesseki and Kerin at the Ramen Shop.

_'Do they ever leave that place? There's the Ramen kid again. Hm. I wonder where Pinky is? Oh, there she is, over with the Barbie.'_

"Hey, guys. Um, what are Pinkie and Barbie fighting over, eh?" I asked, sitting down next to my sensei.

"Sasuke," Kesseki sighed.

I turned to Risei.

"Do they know yet?"

Risei shook her head.

"Then it's about time they found out, eh. Hey, you tw-"

I was cut off when Kerin covered my mouth with her hand.

"Shhhhh! Don't say anything! If you do, they'll tear us to shreds!" She hissed.

"Those are two of Sasuke's many fan-girls," Kesseki explained as my sensei removed her hand.

"Okay, then. Oh and before I forget again, Kerin, are we allowed to bring supplies to the forest for the third part of the exam?" I asked my sensei.

Kerin nodded.

"Great! All right, Yureru, you bring weapons, including kunais, katanas, shuriken, ect... Risei, you bring food that can last for up to five days. I'll bring everything else. Deal? Good. See you guys tomorrow, eh," I smiled, leaving.

"Stupid blood. There, I think it's all out, eh. Might as well get ready for the exam now, eh," I sighed to myself.

I walked to my room and started putting some stuff that would probably be useful in a random backpack. I walked around the village looking for Gaara. After about ten freakin' minutes, I finally found him on the roof of my house.

"Um... I feel dumb right now. Hey, Gaara! 'Tsup?" I smiled, sitting down next to him.

"So, how long've you been up here?" I asked.

"About five minutes. What's with the katanas?" He replied.

Before I had left my house, I had strapped a katana to each leg. I simply told him that it could come in handy during the exam. There was a long silence and I randomly started singing the "Jaws" theme. Gaara looked at me funny.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"I don't know. I tend to do that a lot, eh," I explained.

There was another silence.

"Why?" Gaara asked suddenly.

"Why what?" I retorted.

"Why do you make me feel this way? When I'm around you, I feel that I can trust you. You make me feel like I'm not a monster, or-"

I cut him off.

"Would you stop calling yourself that? When you say that you're a monster, you're also saying that _I'm_ a monster, and I really don't appreciate it, thank you very much, eh! Jinchuriki like us are _not_ monsters! The demons inside us are! And-"

I suddenly started coughing up blood. My entire body was aching and I was getting dizzy. The coughing stopped, but nothing else did.

_'What the... What the Hell is wrong with me? Holly kuso, I feel like I'm friggin' dying!'_

Gaara pulled me towards him and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

I shook my head a bit. I felt him gently put his hand in the middle of me back. I jumped a little, but not much. I felt so tired, but I didn't want to sleep knowing that Gaara couldn't.

"It's okay, you can sleep. I don't mind," he said, almost like he was reading my mind.

I looked up at him and shook my head.

"That's not fair. It'd be like teasing you if I did. Plus, it's almost impossible to wake me up, eh."

"You need sleep. Don't worry about me. I promise I'll wake you up," he insisted.

I was a little suspicious, but I couldn't figure out what he might have been up to, save for the excruciatingly disturbing reasons, which I dismissed.

"I'm not tired," I yawned.

He gently pushed my head back onto his shoulder.

"Yes you are. It's written all over your face. Shhhh. Don't talk, just sleep," Gaara whispered.

I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't.

**(GAARA'S P.O.V.)**

I watched Iya sleeping on my shoulder. I slowly put my arms around her, unsure of what else to do. She looked so defenseless. I almost regretted agreeing to that mission, but I couldn't bring myself to kill her. Or her teammates, for that matter. She'd hate me if I even tried to, and I wouldn't be able to stand that.

_**'What's the matter, Gaara? Not going soft, are you? Your pathetic human emotions interfering with what you need to do. Just kill her!'**_

I tried to ignore Shukaku, but it wasn't easy. I wondered how Iya could ignore Hachimata so well. Shukaku had once told me that Hachimata never shut up and all he ever did was talk and complain. There was a sudden pain in my sides. I noticed that Iya was digging her nails into my skin and that she was crying in her sleep. I hugged her.

"It's okay, I'm right here. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Everything's going to fine," I whispered.

She stopped crying and her hands dropped to her side. I sighed and waited for the night to end.

**(END P.O.V.)**


	8. Continuing the Exam and Hoping

I woke up the next morning in a sitting position. I looked up and saw Gaara smiling at me. As an automatic reaction, I jumped back a little and almost fell off the freakin' roof, but Gaara caught me.

"Don't do that," I sighed loudly.

"Okay," Gaara smirked, letting go of me.

I lost my balance and fell off the roof.

"Are you all right?" He called.

I glared up at him.

"No, I'm dead," I replied sarcastically, getting up.

I jumped back onto the roof and started wiping the dirt off of my pants.

"Is there dirt on my ass?" I asked, practically shoving my kiester in his face.

"I don't know! Move your butt!" He answered.

I sighed and sat down next to him.

"There's something important that I was supposed to do today. What was it?" I asked, more to myself than to him.

"The second part of the Chuunin exam," Gaara answered.

"Oh, yeah. I can't believe I forgot about that," I said, lying down and closing my eyes.

"Any idea who that is with Kankuro? She looks familiar." He asked me.

I sat up impatiently and looked down.

"Oh yeah, that's just my sensei. She was also the proctor for the first test," I told him.

Kerin and Kankuro stopped walking. Kerin said something to Kankuro, then turned to me.

"Hey, Iya! Isn't the rest of exam today?" She called.

"Yeah, but it's not until noon, stupid! Don't you listen to anything people say?" I answered.

"Do you want to run laps?" She threatened.

"No," I answered meekly.

She told me to say hi to my teammates and walked off with Kankuro.

"Hm. That's interesting. Kankuro somehow managed to keep his mouth shut," Gaara said.

I laughed a little. There was an awkward silence.

"I have a question. You were crying in your sleep. Why?" Gaara asked.

I didn't really want to answer that, so I simply shrugged and told him that I didn't even know that I _was_ crying.. There was another silence.

"I am a ninja," I said randomly.

Gaara looked at me like I was insane. I saw two girls that looked about 15 or 16 years old walking by.

"Bok, bok, chicken!" I shouted at them.

One of the girls screamed and I burst into laughter. The girls glared at me and continued walking.(1) Gaara looked at me like I was even more insane than before.

"Oh my God, I can't breathe! Can't breathe! Okay, I can breathe. Holy crap, that was so freakin' hilarious! Did you see her face?" I said, still laughing a bit.

Gaara sighed and shook his head impatiently.

"Oh, come on. You _know_ that was funny. Bok, bok, chicken? Rude! Fine, ignore me! See if I care!"

I folded my arms and turned my back towards him. I felt him tugging on my ponytail. I tilted my head back until I was looking right at his face.

"Can you let go of my hair? This is hurting my neck," I told him.

He did as I asked and I turned towards him.

"So, why did you yell that at them?" Gaara asked.

"Kesseki and I often sit of roof tops and I yell that at people. I guess it's just a habit. I remember this one time, Kess, Yureru, Risei, Kerin and I were sent to your village I believe it was for a mission. One of the days we were there, we were sitting on a roof yelling 'bok, bok, chicken' at every one that passed. It was so funny," I laughed.

"Yeah, I heard about some psycho lunatics from Sogengakure were screaming that. I didn't think that there was any truth in that. I had always heard that Prairie Ninjas were calm and usually quiet," Gaara replied.

"Pft! Which moron told you that?" I scoffed.

"No-one. I just heard someone say it," he responded.

"It was probably the same idiot who said that we're smart. Isn't that funny?" I laughed.

Gaara said it wasn't. I poked him in the shoulder. He looked at me funny, then shook his head. I laid back down on the roof with me arms behind my head and closed my eyes. The sun was now out and it was warm. A small smile began spreading across my lips. I heard Gaara chuckle quietly to himself.

"What?" I asked, not even opening my eyes.

"When you smile, your mouth is a little bit crooked. It's cute," he respond.

I lazily opened one of my eyes.

"Excuse me?" I demanded, just a little too bitterly.

Gaara suddenly looked like he had said the wrong thing.

"It's not a bad thing! Like I said, it's cute," he said, trying to make sure I wasn't offended.

Clearly, he didn't spent too much time talking to girls. I closed my eye again.

"You know, I saw this book at the book store the other day. It was called 'How to Compliment Your Girlfriend'. You should read it," I yawned sarcastically.

Gaara shook his head.

"I can't believe you. Your teammates must be pissed off with your sarcasm."

"Yup. So's Cripple-sensei," I responded.

"Who?"

I explained how Kerin always locked her knee in place, so that was the nickname I had given her. Of course, it only worked when she was on crutches, but still... I suddenly sat up, my head darting back and forth.

_'Damn it! Damn it! Where the fuck... She can't be here! I thought I...'_

I was clearly panicking. A worried look appeared on Gaara's face.

"Iya, what's the matter?" He asked.

"Nothing. Um, I have to go, 'kay? It's an emergency," I responded.

"Um, sure."

I stood up and jumped off, but not before asking Gaara to tell my friends to find me if he happened to see them.

_'Damn it! Where the fuck __**are**__ they?'_ I

was running around the damn village looking for my team, sensei and Kess. Unfortunately, I wasn't getting anywhere. No-one had seen them since earlier this morning, and it was starting to piss me off. As a last effort to find them, I decided to check the place thinggy where the second part of the exam was going to be held. As luck would have it, they were there. By this time, I was out of breath and sweating like mad.

"Hey... Guys! I was... Looking... All over... The place... For you!" I panted, walking over to them.

"What's up, Iya?" Kerin asked.

"She's back," I answered.

Yureru and Risei gasped, but Kess and Kerin were clearly confused.

"What!?! How can she be back? I thought you killed her!" Yureru exclaimed.

I was about to respond, but Kess interrupted, demanding to know who we were talking about.

"Our second sensei, Kokaro Hireia. She hated _all_ Prairie Ninjas, and _all_ Jinchuriki, so imagine how much fun having her as a sensei was," Risei explained.

"Yeah, but she hated Iya the most. Hireia never stopped bugging her. It was always something, right?" Yureru continued.

I decided to pick up where she left off.

"I swear, I hated her as much as she hated me. Heck, maybe even more. Then all at once, I had it with her. What was it she said? Right, it was something about how worthless we are and how we'd never amount to anything, or whatever. I'm just gonna' skip the detail and tell you that I killed her; or at least, I _thought_ I did."

I was so furious with myself for believing that. Hireia was a friggin' ANBU Black-ops from Konohagakure, and I was just a Rookie. How could I have been so stupid? Sure, I had killed our first sensei, but he was _weak_! I'm not even joking! He could barely even lift a rock. I mean, come on!

"So, what are we going to do?"

Risei's question broke my train of thought and sent it crashing into a mountain.

"I honestly don't know. Continue the exam and hope for the best, I suppose," I answered.

I was being honest with my answer, too. That was seriously all I could think of. Yureru sighed, saying that we could always beat her up. I shook my head. It was only about eleven, so we still had an hour 'till the exam. Oh, what fun, eh?

* * *

Time flew by, and soon, people began arriving.

"Yeah!! Exam time! WOOHOO!!" Kana shouted.

I couldn't help laughing a bit. I admired her energy. Finally, it was noon. (Dun, dun, duh.) Miho walked up in front of everybody and cleared her throat.

"All right, listen up! This is very important," she announced.

"Bok!" Kana shouted.

Quite a few people laughed, some held it in, and others commented on her immaturity. One of the Leaf Ninjas behind me said that she was surprised they even let Kana take the exams. I wanted to turn around and punch the girl in the face, but Risei told me that it wouldn't be smart.

_'I swear, that girl can read minds! Let's test it. Sasuke's gay. Yureru is a moron. I like pie. I can kick your ass. YOU SUCK!!!'_

I looked over at Risei. No response.

"Iya, listen to Miho," she said.

Miho was re-explaining the rules of this part.

"I'll pass these papers around. You have ten minutes to read and sign them. When ten minutes are up, bring the papers to the booth over there, and one on the Chuunin there will give your team a scroll."

I got my papers and headed over to a tree. I sat on one of the branches and began quickly reading through the pages. I was aware of a presence next to me, but I never looked up. After nearly a minute of someone watching me, I finally spoke.

"I _know_ you're there, Gaara," I said, irritated.

"I wasn't trying to hide myself from you," he responded, not moving from his spot.

"Oh, so that means you're hiding from someone else."

I took the pen I had and signed the papers.

"You're a quick reader," Gaara commented.

"Thanks. Did you already read your thinggies?" I replied.

"No. I just signed it and told Temari to hang on to it."

"Two minutes!" Miho shouted.

"Well, I'd better go find my idiot team," I yawned, standing up and hitting my friggin' head on the damn branch above me.

"Fuckin' Hell!!" I shouted.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, I think so. See 'ya. Good luck."

"You too. Bye."

I jumped down and found my teammates.

"Hey, guys. Ready? You guys remember the plan?" I asked them.

They nodded.

"All right guys, listen up! One team at a time, head over to the booth over there and give the Chuunin your papers. They'll give you a scroll. Then, line up at one of the gates," Miho shouted.

We did as she said and got the Scroll of Death.

"Heh, well what do you know. This is lucky," I sneered.

"For us, or our enemies," Risei asked.

"Us," I said simply.

We waited for a couple of minutes until everyone else got their scrolls.

"On my mark, the test will begin. Ready, set, GO!!" Miho yelled.


	9. An Unexpected Battle

Migihimi just chuckled and asked if I honestly thought that I could kill him.

"Yesss, and for three reasssonsss: one, you pissssed me off, two, you tried to kill me and my team, not to mention thossse other three losssersss, and three, I don't like you," I responded casually.

I guess you could say that Migihimi was getting pissed off.

"You worthless bitch," he growled.

"Don't call me that, you retarded assss hole," I growled back.

Migihimi ran at me with, would you believe it, _my_ katana. I didn't have time to get out of the way so instead, believe it or not, I grabbed the blade of the freakin' sword with my free hand. I winced in pain as the katana ripped through my flesh. That made Hachimata mad.

"You jussst made a huge missstake," I hissed.

A clone of me appeared behind Migihimi. He turned around and punched it. It changed to snow on impact. The schmo mumbled some swears under his breath as I kicked him in the gut, causing him to stagger and drop my bloodstained sword. He did a couple hand signs and shouted:

"Akurei-shurui: Akari Ketsueki no Jutsu **(Demon-Type: Light Blade Technique)**!"

Blades of light flew at me. I swore a couple of times and jumped out of the way.

"Where did you learn that? Akurei-ssshurui techniquesss are exssstremely difficult to learn, not to mention forbidden," I said.

"I learned it in the Rain Village, duh. And if you and your team were to come, you could also learn these types of techniques, and many more," Migihimi smirked."No thanksss, lossser," I replied."You're the one with such little control over the demon inside you."

That did it. That was all he needed to say to make me finally go and attack. I did some hand signs and hissed:

"Yukiton: Yuki Ssshuriken no Jutsssu **(Snow Element: Snow Shuriken Technique)**!"

Huge, solid snowflakes rained down him. Soon, the smoke cleared, revealing a bloody Migihimi. As soon as I caught a glimpse of him, I ran at him an swung the katana, slicing him in half. After about two seconds, Pinky went into freakin' hysterics. Dropping the sword, I forced myself to do some hand signs.

"Ninpou: Akurei Fuin o Suru no Jutsu **(Ninja Art: Demon Sealing Technique)**," I mumbled.

My teeth returned to normal and the marks disappeared into the tattoo on my arm. I fell on my hands and knees panting.

"Iya? Are you okay?" Yureru asked, sounding worried, yet irritated at the same time.

"I'll be fine. Just make Pinky shut up before I punch her face in," I responded.

"Sakura, shut up," the Uchiha runt ordered.

Pinky, to my suprise, actually did shut up. I soon caught my breath and stood up, causing a wave of pain to flow through my body.

"Let's move away from here and take care of our injuries. You three come too," Risei said.

For once, I didn't say or even think something sarcastic. We didn't go far. Just far enough not to see the bodies of the Rain Nins that Yureru and I had killed. The Ramen kid had grabbed the scroll from Imaruka, the girl, but gave it to us thanks to my excellent persuasive skills evolving my fist and his nose. Pain shot through my body as Risei wrapped bandages around the wound in my stomach.

* * *

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you," I kept mumbling over and over again. 

When she was finally done with me, she moved on to Yureru. I closed my eyes and I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened them, it was light out.

"You're finally awake," Pinky said.

I stood up and stretched a bit. My stomach was hurting about a thousand times less, but it was still a little sore. Pinky started talking about how dumb Risei, Yureru and I were and I really wasn't in the mood.

"Will you just SHUT UP!?!" I shouted, kicking her in the mouth.

"Iya!" Risei and Yureru yelled, shocked.

"What? She's just so annoying, I couldn't help it," I said as if it was perfectly normal to go around kicking people in the mouth.

Much to my suprise, the Uchiha runt and Yureru actually agreed with me. I yawned and suggested to my team that we head for the tower.

"We might as well. We'll see you guys later. Good luck," Risei smiled.

We took off again. Nothing happened until we stopped for a break. It was around midnight.

"How much longer do we have, Risei?" I asked.

"Um, let's see. Twenty-four, thirty-seven, one twenty minus that, one, three, zero to eleven minus three equals about eighty-three hours left," Risei calculated.

"Good. If all goes well, we should end up with about sixty some hours left," I sighed, biting one of my nails.

We suddenly heard a scream not to far away from us. We -okay, _I_- decided to go check it out. Turned out that Gaara was killing some loser Ninjas who had pissed him off.

"So which village were they from?" I asked him.

"Yours," Kunkoro answered.

I totally started freaking out.

"What? Dude, they could have been friends of mine, eh!" I shouted.

"Relax, they weren't. I made sure of that," Gaara told me.

I demanded how.

"He asked them," Kankoru butted in.

Gaara glared at him.

"Hey, Shrimp! We were getting worried!" Yureru yelled.

I whirled around and faced her.

"I AM NOT A SHRIMP, BAKA!!!!" I shouted.

"Yes you are," she scoffed.

"Don't make me poke you," I warned.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me." I marched over to Yureru and poked her really hard in the shoulder.

She pulled off her sweater, revealing a huge bruise where I poked her surrounded by many smaller ones.

"See what you did?" She demanded.

I rummaged through my bad and pulled out some powder cover-up.

"Here, just use this," I sighed. Risei, I noticed, had been rather quiet.

Yureru finished with the cover-up and handed it back to me.

"Hey Iya, what happened," Gaara asked, nodding towards my bandages.

"Oh, nothing. I think I fractured my spleen, is all," I answered.

"Um, that's not your spleen," Gaara's girl teammate informed me.

I honestly knew that it wasn't my spleen. No matter what anyone says, I know I'm not that stupid.

"Well guys, we'd better get going," Kuku-dude said nervously.

"Yeah, so should we," Risei put in suddenly.

"You two go ahead. I'll catch up. Here, take one of the scrolls just in case," I told them.

"Same here," Gaara added to his teammates.

Risei, Yureru, Kakuro and Madame Giant Fan shrugged and left.

"What happened?" Gaara asked after a couple seconds.

"Nothing. We just had some trouble getting a scroll," I answered uneasily.

"What kind of trouble?"

I could tell he was getting impatient.

"Just trouble, okay! We had a hard time getting it from some loser Rain nins," I snapped.

"Rain nins?" Gaara repeated.

"That's what I said. I think I'd better go. My teammates are probably wondering where I am. See 'ya."

I started walking away but sand wrapped around my leg and I couldn't very well go anywhere. The sand was slowly crawling up my leg and tightening. The sand was so freakin' tight that I thought I heard my bone crack.

"Gaara," I breathed.

The sand was now at my upper thigh. Gaara didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to me and placed his hand over my injury. I winced in pain. I didn't realize how much it hurt until now. He paused for a second before bringing his hand to my face. He tilted my head just enough for me to look straight into his pleading eyes. My heart started beating pretty damn fast.

"Iya, what happened?" Gaara asked again.

_**'If he kissssessss you, Iyahon, I'm going to kill him!'**_

_****__'Oh can it, Hachimata.'_

"We were just attacked by some stupid Rain nins. They turned out to be stronger than we expected and I ended up getting stabbed. That's all," I answered sharply.

"There's something else, isn't there?"

_**'Iyahon, watch what you sssay.'**_

_****__'Ugh, shut up! I know!'_

"There's nothing else Gaara, really."

I knew I wasn't convincing him. His face was about an inch or so away from mine.

"I hate it when you lie to me," he said sadly.

I could feel his warm breath on my lips.

"This is the first time," I pointed out.

"And I hate it," he answered, placing his lips on mine.

For a second, I was too suprised to do anything, but I quickly relaxed and kissed him back. It didn't last long. Gaara soon pulled away, his face almost as red as his hair. I was also blushing, but not as much. The sand that was on my leg quickly went back into his gourd.

"Sorry. I don't know what came over me. It won't happen again," Gaara mumbled.

_**'He'sss right it won't happen again!'**_

_****_"Um, it's okay, I guess," I told him nervously.

A kunai flew past my head. I turned around to see another Rain team.

_'Damn it, not again!'_

"I'll take care of these shmos," I said casually.

Gaara asked if I was sure and I nodded.

"Oh, you mean like you took care of Migihimi, Imaruka and Ikimori? You'd better let your boyfriend over there help you, because you're going to need it," one of them sneered.

"Shows how much you know," I grinned.

The second Rain nin frowned and threw a kunai at me. I caught it -with my left hand- a split second before it hit me. I growled and quickly threw it back. The kunai missed all three Nins and hit a tree.

"Kuso," I muttered as they laughed.

I ordered them to shut up though my clenched teeth.

"Or what? You'll throw another kunai?" The third retard said, pretending to be scared.

"I might," I answered.

The second dude (I don't know their names!) threw another kunai. I caught this one with my right hand. Faster than you can say "I'm a ninja", I was standing in front of him, holding the kunai that was now plunged into his chest. I pulled the kunai away and whatever-his-name-was fell backwards. Rain nins one and three's jaws dropped as they stared at their teammate's dead body. I took advantage of their shock and disappeared, then reappeared next to Gaara.

"I think they're going to be pretty mad once the fact that you killed their teammate sinks in," he said.

"Way to point out the obvious," I replied emotionlessly.

The two nins looked at me, their eyes filled with pure hatred and rage.

"Kuso," I mumbled.

Before I could blink, both of them were throwing kunais, shuriken and senbon at me at such a high speed, that if they had hit me, they'd have gone right through me. Thankfully, a wall of sand blocked them. I mumbled a quick thanks. The bombardment of weapons stopped. The sand slowly left. The Rain nins were fuming. Gaara's sand wrapped around one of them.

"What the... What are you- AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

Sand and blood flew everywhere. This was too familiar to be comfortable. The last rain nin dude was way more than pissed. I couldn't really blame him. I mean, we just killed both of his teammates right in front of him. He ran at me with a kunai. He was fast. I barely had time to step back into a tree. There was a sharp pain in the left side of my face. I screamed and threw my hand over my eye. I fell to my knees as Gaara shouted my name. I was making use of my "colorful" vocabulary.

_**'Okay Iyahon, jussst relaxsss. Take deep breathsss. I'll try and heal you assss much assss posssssible. There, better?'**_

_'Barely.__ FUCK!! Okay, not at all.'_

Tears mixed with blood were streaming down my face. I felt Gaara put one of his arms around me.

"Are you okay?" He asked frantically.

Before I could answer, I passed out.I woke up several hours later, only to have Yureru scare the shit out of me. She was leaning right over my face, so of course, she was the first thing I saw. I screamed and sat up, hitting Yureru in the head with mine.

"Kuso," I mumbled while Yureru told Risei that I was awake.

Like the scream didn't let her know. It was then that I noticed bandages around the left side of me head.

"How do you feel?" Risei asked.

"Fine," I yawned, getting to my feet.

"Good. Do you still have the scroll?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yup. By the way, we have seventy-two hours left."

"Good."

"Should we um, go inside the tower now?" Yureru asked.

I nodded. We entered the tower and ended up in a room about less than half the size of the Academy classroom where the first part of the exam had taken place. A poster on the wall read:

_Congratulations! You three have successfully_

_made it to the tower in less than five days. _

_Open __both scrolls at the same time to _

_receive your next __instructions._

"And they don't just tell us the instructions because...? Oh well. Risei, you can open the scroll you have, and I'll open mine, 'kay?" I suggested.

"Okay," Yureru and Risei agreed.

"On the count of three, open them. One, two, three," Yureru said.

Risei and I opened the scrolls. Inside, there was a seal for a summoning jutsu. We both threw the scrolls on the ground as they exploded. The smoke cleared, revealing Kesseki. No-one said anything for a couple of seconds.

"Gay baby," I said in deep voice.

Kess and Yureru laughed.

"Okay, what's going on?" Risei asked, clearly trying to sound patient.

"Oh, right. Well, you three pass the second part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. That's basically what I was supposed to say," Kess explained.

"Great. Can you tell us what the third part is?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, I'm not supposed to say, but it's a fighting test. You pick numbers and find out who your opponent is, then you have a month to get ready. I there's too many people, they have a prelime-something. That's right away," she answered.

"Thanks, dude. You totally rock," I smiled.

"I know. Good luck, you guys."

And with that, she disappeared. A pair of doors opened and lead into the main part of the tower. We walked through the doors. They slammed shut behind us. We walked around the tower a bit then a small dog came up to us and started growling and barking at me. Suprised and irritated, I took a couple of steps back. Two dudes and a girl walked over and one of the dudes picked up the dog. The dude was wearing a white hoodie and he had some face paint or whatever on. The other dude was wearing a beige-ish jacket and tiny sunglasses. The girl had black hair and the same lavender eyes as that Neji dude.

"Sorry about that. Akamaru doesn't usually act like that. My name's Inuzuka Kiba," the dude with the dog said.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Iya. These are Yureru and Risei," I smiled.

"What are your names?" Yureru asked the other two.

"Aburame Shino," the second dude answered.

"My n-name's H-Hinata," the girl stuttered shyly.

"Oh my God! Remember me? We used to be friends when I lived in Konohagakure!" Yureru exclaimed.

"O-oh yeah. I-I remember," Hinata said with a small smile.

Akamaru managed to free himself from Kiba's grasp and jumped to the floor, only to continue barking at me.

"Akamaru, what's gotten into you? Knock it off," Kiba ordered.

"You know what, I'm gonna' go for a walk. See who else made it. Later." I walked away.

_'Hmmm... I don't see any other Prairie Ninjas. I hope Kana's all right,'_ I thought to myself.

Kana was actually a really good friend of mine.

_**'I'm sssure ssshe'sss fine.'**_

_****__'I'm not. Oh well. I guess we'll see.'_

"What do you know, the demon shrimp made it," the stupid Uchiha runt's voice said from behind me.

I was already in a pretty bad mood - though I was hiding rather well in my opinion - and that comment pushed me over the edge. I (as Aku-Iya) whirled around and punched him in the face. I don't know why, but that made me feel a lot better. I turned around and walked away, switching back to Eki-Iya.

"Hey Gaara's girlfriend, nice one!" Kankito laughed.

"Thanks. Um, my name's Iya, just so you know, eh," I responded.

He laughed again.

"I'd better catch up with my team, eh. See ya," I smiled, leaving.

I resumed walking around, trying to spot people I knew. There were only about four teams. That meant twelve people. I wondered if that meant we would be having preliminaries. I figured it did. I had met pretty much all of these people except for a team of Rain Ninjas.

_Kuso, they're everywhere! I wonder if Yureru and Risei are done talking to Kiba, Hinata and Shino.'_

I was getting tired of pointlessly walking around, so I went to go find them, and I did. They were talking to Neji's team. I walked over to them.

"Hey Iya. How was your walk?" Risei asked.

"Good," I answered.

There was no point in telling her that I gave her boyfriend a black eye, right?

"What happened to your eye?" Tenten gasped.

"Nothing," I said, shrugging.

"It doesn't look like nothing," she replied.

Yureru decided to change the subject and soon, it was the end of the second test. There was now a total of six teams. There were three Leaf teams, one Rain team, one Sand team and one Prairie team. All six teams were gathered in a large room surrounded by a balcony thinggy. There was a screen thing on one of the walls above a set of double-doors. Miho, followed by a bunch of Chuunin and Jonin, including Kerin and Kess, walked out with... MY DAD!?! For a second, I was totally confused. What was my _dad_ doing here? Then I remembered: he was Kirikage. Of course he'd be here, but only to make a speech. Suprisingly, he didn't.

"Congragulations, all of you. You have all made it passed the second part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. I'd like to call forward the proctor of the third part of the test, Murasaki Haide," Miho announced, stepping back.

A lady with long, purple hair walked up and cleared her throat.

"As you are aware, my name is Murasaki Haide and I'm the proctor for the third part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. This part is a physical combat test. Since there are too many of you, there will be a preliminary elimination round. If you'll look to your right, you'll see a screen. All of your names have been entered into a computer. The computer will randomly select two people and they will fight against each other. Everyone else will be asked to go up to the balcony, so as to avoid confusion. The winner will move on. If there is a tie, neither advances. You can give up if you want. You can do whatever it takes to win. The winner is decided when one of you either gets knocked out, forfeits or dies. Any questions?" She demanded.

"Is it possible to end up fighting one of your own teammates?" Pinky asked.

"Yes, it is. Anything else? Good. Let's get started."

She instructed everyone to go on the balcony. A beeping sound came from the screen thinggy. I could hardly believe what it said:

**Isameru Iyahon**

**Vs**

**Uchiha Sasuke**

"The first match will be: Isameru Iyahon from Sogengakure viruses Uchiha Sasuke from Konohagakure," Haide announced.

I smirked and jumped down to the arena, followed by the Uchiha runt.

"Just so you know, you're going to lose," the dumb shit informed me.

"I wish I had brought a fork for you so you could EAT YOUR WORDS!!" I shouted.

"Ready, begin!" Uchiha started by throwing a handful of shuriken at me. I smirked and disappeared."Over here," I called, leaning against one of the walls.

He ran forward a bit and threw a kunai. A disappeared again, this time reappearing a foot behind him. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and I sank my fist into his gut, sending him flying into the wall.

"What are you?" He demanded, standing up. I frowned.

"Ouch, that really hurt. You know, I don't think Risei will appreciate the way you're talking to me," I said, shrugging.

"Go Sasuke! You can take her!" Risei cheered.

"Or you know, not. Whos side are you on, Risei? Any who Uchiha, prepare to die." I pulled out a kunai threw it at him.

He caught it and ran at me again.

* * *

Okay, so here it is!! YAY!! Reviews help Iyahon kick Sasuke's a- er, keister!! 


	10. Leaving the Forest

FINALLY!! Sorry it took so long. I've been procrastinating so bad... Forgive my? You will.

* * *

Migihimi just chuckled and asked if I honestly thought that I could kill him.

"Yesss, and for three reasssonsss: one, you pissssed me off, two, you tried to kill me and my team, not to mention thossse other three losssersss, and three, I don't like you," I responded casually.

I guess you could say that Migihimi was getting pissed off.

"You worthless bitch," he growled.

"Don't call me that, you retarded assss hole," I growled back.

Migihimi ran at me with, would you believe it, _my_ katana. I didn't have time to get out of the way so instead, believe it or not, I grabbed the blade of the freakin' sword with my free hand. I winced in pain as the katana ripped through my flesh. That made Hachimata mad.

"You jussst made a huge missstake," I hissed.

A clone of me appeared behind Migihimi. He turned around and punched it. It changed to snow on impact. The schmo mumbled some swears under his breath as I kicked him in the gut, causing him to stagger and drop my bloodstained sword. He did a couple hand signs and shouted:

"Akurei-shurui: Akari Ketsueki no Jutsu **(Demon-Type: Light Blade Technique)**!"

Blades of light flew at me. I swore a couple of times and jumped out of the way.

"Where did you learn that? Akurei-ssshurui techniquesss are exssstremely difficult to learn, not to mention forbidden," I said.

"I learned it in the Rain Village, duh. And if you and your team were to come, you could also learn these types of techniques, and many more," Migihimi smirked.

"No thanksss, lossser," I replied.

"You're the one with such little control over the demon inside you."

That did it. That was all he needed to say to make me finally go and attack. I did some hand signs and hissed:

"Yukiton: Yuki Ssshuriken no Jutsssu **(Snow Element: Snow Shuriken Technique)**!"

Huge, solid snowflakes rained down him. Soon, the smoke cleared, revealing a bloody Migihimi. As soon as I caught a glimpse of him, I ran at him and swung the katana, slicing him in half. After about two seconds, Pinky went into freakin' hysterics. Dropping the sword, I forced myself to do some hand signs.

"Ninpou: Akurei Fuin o Suru no Jutsu **(Ninja Art: Demon Sealing Technique)**," I mumbled.

My teeth returned to normal and the marks disappeared into the tattoo on my arm. I fell on my hands and knees panting.  


"Iya? Are you okay?" Yureru asked, sounding worried, yet irritated at the same time.

"I'll be fine. Just make Pinky shut up before I punch her face in," I responded.

"Sakura, shut up," the Uchiha runt ordered.

Pinky, to my suprise, actually did shut up. I soon caught my breath and stood up, causing a wave of pain to flow through my body.

"Let's move away from here and take care of our injuries. You three come too," Risei said.

For once, I didn't say, or even think something sarcastic. We didn't go far. Just far enough not to see the bodies of the Rain Nins that Yureru and I had killed. The Ramen kid had grabbed the scroll from Imaruka, the girl, but gave it to us thanks to my excellent persuasive skills evolving my fist and his nose.

Pain shot through my body as Risei wrapped bandages around the wound in my stomach.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you," I kept mumbling over and over again.

When she was finally done with me, she moved on to Yureru. I closed my eyes and I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened them, it was light out.

"You're finally awake," Pinky said.

I stood up and stretched a bit. My stomach was hurting about a thousand times less, but it was still a little sore. Pinky started talking about how dumb Risei, Yureru and I were and I really wasn't in the mood.

"Will you just SHUT UP!?" I shouted, kicking her in the mouth.

"Iya!" Risei and Yureru yelled, shocked.

"What? She's just so annoying, I couldn't help it," I said as if it was perfectly normal to go around kicking people in the mouth.

Much to my suprise, the Uchiha runt and Yureru actually agreed with me. I yawned and suggested to my team that we head for the tower.

"We might as well. We'll see you guys later. Good luck," Risei smiled.

We took off again. Nothing happened until we stopped for a break. It was around midnight.

"How much longer do we have, Risei?" I asked.

"Um, let's see. Twenty-four, thirty-seven, one twenty minus that, one, three, zero to eleven minus three 

equals about eighty-three hours left," Risei calculated.

"Good. If all goes well, we should end up with about sixty some hours left," I sighed, biting one of my nails.

We suddenly heard a scream not to far away from us. We -okay, _I_- decided to go check it out. It turned out that Gaara was killing some loser Ninjas who had pissed him off.

"So which village were they from?" I asked him.

"Yours," Kunkoro answered. I totally started freaking out.

"What? Dude, they could have been friends of mine, eh!" I shouted.

"Relax, they weren't. I made sure of that," Gaara told me.

I demanded how.

"He asked them," Kankoru butted in.

Gaara glared at him.

"Hey, Shrimp! We were getting worried!" Yureru yelled.

I whirled around and faced her.

"I AM NOT A SHRIMP, BAKA!!" I shouted.

"Yes you are," she scoffed.

"Don't make me poke you," I warned.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me."

I marched over to Yureru and poked her really hard in the shoulder. She pulled off her sweater, revealing a huge bruise where I poked her surrounded by many smaller ones.

"See what you did?" She demanded.

I rummaged through my bad and pulled out some powder cover-up.

"Here, just use this," I sighed.

Risei, I noticed, had been rather quiet. Yureru finished with the cover-up and handed it back to me.

"Hey Iya, what happened," Gaara asked, nodding towards my bandages.  


"Oh, nothing. I think I fractured my spleen, is all," I answered.

"Um, that's not your spleen," Gaara's girl teammate informed me.

I honestly knew that it wasn't my spleen. No matter what anyone says, I know I'm not that stupid.

"Well guys, we'd better get going," Kuku-dude said nervously.

"Yeah, so should we," Risei put in suddenly.

"You two go ahead. I'll catch up. Here, take one of the scrolls just in case," I told them.

"Same here," Gaara added to his teammates.

Risei, Yureru, Kakuro and Madame Giant Fan shrugged and left.

"What happened?" Gaara asked after a couple seconds.

"Nothing. We just had some trouble getting a scroll," I answered uneasily.

"What kind of trouble?" I could tell he was getting impatient.

"Just trouble, okay! We had a hard time getting it from some loser Rain nins," I snapped.

"Rain nins?" Gaara repeated.

"That's what I said. I think I'd better go. My teammates are probably wondering where I am. See 'ya."

I started walking away but sand wrapped around my leg and I couldn't very well go anywhere. The sand was slowly crawling up my leg and tightening. The sand was so freakin' tight that I thought I heard my bone crack.

"Gaara," I breathed.

The sand was now at my upper thigh. Gaara didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to me and placed his hand over my injury. I winced in pain. I didn't realize how much it hurt until now. He paused for a second before bringing his hand to my face. He tilted my head just enough for me to look straight into his pleading eyes. My heart started beating pretty damn fast.

"Iya, what happened?" Gaara asked again.

_**'If he kissssessss you, Iyahon, I'm going to kill him!'**_

_'Oh can it, Hachimata.'_

"We were just attacked by some stupid Rain nins. They turned out to be stronger than we expected and I ended up getting stabbed. That's all," I answered sharply.  


"There's something else, isn't there?"

_**'Iyahon, watch what you sssay.'**_

_'Ugh, shut up! I know!'_

"There's nothing else Gaara, really."

I knew I wasn't convincing him. His face was about an inch or so away from mine.

"I hate it when you lie to me," he said sadly. I could feel his warm breath on my lips.

"This is the first time," I pointed out.

"And I hate it," he answered, placing his lips on mine.

For a second, I was too suprised to do anything, but I quickly relaxed and kissed him back. It didn't last long. Gaara soon pulled away, his face almost as red as his hair. I was also blushing, but not as much. The sand that was on my leg quickly went back into his gourd.

"Sorry. I don't know what came over me. It won't happen again," Gaara mumbled.

_**'He'sss right it won't happen again!'**_

"Um, it's okay, I guess," I told him nervously.

A kunai flew past my head. I turned around to see another Rain team.

_'Damn it, not again!'_

"I'll take care of these shmos," I said casually.

Gaara asked if I was sure and I nodded.

"Oh, you mean like you took care of Migihimi, Imaruka and Ikimori? You'd better let your boyfriend over there help you, because you're going to need it," one of them sneered.

"Shows how much you know," I grinned.

The second Rain nin frowned and threw a kunai at me. I caught it -with my left hand- a split second before it hit me. I growled and quickly threw it back. The kunai missed all three Nins and hit a tree.

"Kuso," I muttered as they laughed.

I ordered them to shut up though my clenched teeth.

"Or what? You'll throw another kunai?" The third retard said, pretending to be scared.  


"I might," I answered.

The second dude (I don't know their names!) threw another kunai. I caught this one with my right hand. Faster than you can say "I'm a ninja", I was standing in front of him, holding the kunai that was now plunged into his chest. I pulled the kunai away and whatever-his-name-was fell backwards. Rain nins one and three's jaws dropped as they stared at their teammate's dead body. I took advantage of their shock and disappeared, then reappeared next to Gaara.

"I think they're going to be pretty mad once the fact that you killed their teammate sinks in," he said.

"Way to point out the obvious," I replied emotionlessly.

The two nins looked at me, their eyes filled with pure hatred and rage.

"Kuso," I mumbled.

Before I could blink, both of them were throwing kunais, shuriken and senbon at me at such a high speed, that if they had hit me, they'd have gone right through me. Thankfully, a wall of sand blocked them. I mumbled a quick thanks. The bombardment of weapons stopped. The sand slowly left. The Rain nins were fuming. Gaara's sand wrapped around one of them.

"What the... What are you- AAAAAHHHHHH!!"

Sand and blood flew everywhere. This was too familiar to be comfortable. The last rain nin dude was way more than pissed. I couldn't really blame him. I mean, we just killed both of his teammates right in front of him. He ran at me with a kunai. He was fast. I barely had time to step back into a tree. There was a sharp pain in the left side of my face. I screamed and threw my hand over my eye. I fell to my knees as Gaara shouted my name. I was making use of my "colorful" vocabulary.

_**'Okay Iyahon, jussst relaxsss. Take deep breathsss. I'll try and heal you assss much assss posssssible. There, better?'**_

_'Barely. FUCK!! Okay, not at all.'_

Tears mixed with blood were streaming down my face. I felt Gaara put one of his arms around me.

"Are you okay?" He asked frantically.

Before I could answer, I passed out.

I woke up several hours later, only to have Yureru scare the shit out of me. She was leaning right over my face, so of course, she was the first thing I saw. I screamed and sat up, hitting Yureru in the head with mine.

"Kuso," I mumbled while Yureru told Risei that I was awake.

Like the scream didn't let her know. It was then that I noticed bandages around the left side of me head.

"How do you feel?" Risei asked.

"Fine," I yawned, getting to my feet.

"Good. Do you still have the scroll?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yup. By the way, we have seventy-two hours left."

"Good."

"Should we um, go inside the tower now?" Yureru asked.

I nodded. We entered the tower and ended up in a room about less than half the size of the Academy classroom where the first part of the exam had taken place. A poster on the wall read:

_Congratulations! You three have successfully  
made it to the tower in less than five days. Open  
both scrolls at the same time to receive your next  
instructions._

"And they don't just tell us the instructions because...? Oh well. Risei, you can open the scroll you have, and I'll open mine, 'kay?" I suggested.

"Okay," Yureru and Risei agreed.

"On the count of three, open them. One, two, three," Yureru said.

Risei and I opened the scrolls. Inside, there was a seal for a summoning jutsu. We both threw the scrolls on the ground as they exploded. The smoke cleared, revealing Kesseki. No-one said anything for a couple of seconds.

"Gay baby," I said in deep voice. Kess and Yureru laughed.

"Okay, what's going on?" Risei asked, clearly trying to sound patient.

"Oh, right. Well, you three pass the second part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. That's basically what I was supposed to say," Kess explained.

"Great. Can you tell us what the third part is?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, I'm not supposed to say, but it's a fighting test. You pick numbers and find out who your opponent is, then you have a month to get ready. If there's too many people, they have a prelime-something. That's right away," she answered.

"Thanks, dude. You totally rock," I smiled.

"I know. Good luck, you guys."

And with that, she disappeared. A pair of doors opened and led into the main part of the tower. We walked through the doors. They slammed shut behind us. We walked around the tower a bit then a small dog came up to us and started growling and barking at me. Suprised and irritated, I took a couple of steps back. Two dudes and a girl walked over and one of the dudes picked up the dog. The dude was wearing a white hoodie and he had some face paint or whatever on. The other dude was wearing a beige-ish jacket and tiny sunglasses. The girl had black hair and the same lavender eyes as that Neji dude.

"Sorry about that. Akamaru doesn't usually act like that. My name's Inuzuka Kiba," the dude with the dog said.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Iya. These are Yureru and Risei," I smiled.

"What are your names?" Yureru asked the other two.

"Aburame Shino," the second dude answered.

"My n-name's H-Hinata," the girl stuttered shyly.

"Oh my God! Remember me? We used to be friends when I lived in Konohagakure!" Yureru exclaimed.

"O-oh yeah. I-I remember," Hinata said with a small smile.

Akamaru managed to free himself from Kiba's grasp and jumped to the floor, only to continue barking at me.

"Akamaru, what's gotten into you? Knock it off," Kiba ordered.

"You know what, I'm gonna' go for a walk. See who else made it. Later." I walked away.

_'Hmmm... I don't see any other Prairie Ninjas. I hope Kana's all right,'_ I thought to myself.

Kana was actually a really good friend of mine.

_**'I'm sssure ssshe'sss fine.'**_

_'I'm not. Oh well. I guess we'll see.'_

"What do you know, the demon shrimp made it," the stupid Uchiha runt's voice said from behind me.

I was already in a pretty bad mood - though I was hiding rather well in my opinion - and that comment pushed me over the edge. I (as Aku-Iya) whirled around and punched him in the face. I don't know why, but that made me feel a lot better. I turned around and walked away, switching back to Eki-Iya.

"Hey Gaara's girlfriend, nice one!" Kankito laughed.

"Thanks. Um, my name's Iya, just so you know, eh," I responded.

He laughed again.

"I'd better catch up with my team, eh. See ya," I smiled, leaving.

I resumed walking around, trying to spot people I knew. There were only about four teams. That meant twelve people. I wondered if that meant we would be having preliminaries. I figured it did. I had met pretty much all of these people except for a team of Rain Ninjas.

_'Kuso, they're everywhere! I wonder if Yureru and Risei are done talking to Kiba, Hinata and Shino.'_

I was getting tired of pointlessly walking around, so I went to go find them, and I did. They were talking to Neji's team. I walked over to them.

"Hey Iya. How was your walk?" Risei asked.

"Good," I answered.

There was no point in telling her that I gave her boyfriend a black eye, right?

"What happened to your eye?" Tenten gasped.

"Nothing," I said, shrugging.

"It doesn't look like nothing," she replied.

Yureru decided to change the subject and soon, it was the end of the second test. There were now a total of six teams. There were three Leaf teams, one Rain team, one Sand team and one Prairie team. All six teams were gathered in a large room surrounded by a balcony thinggy. There was a screen thing on one of the walls above a set of double-doors. Miho, followed by a bunch of Chuunin and Jonin, including Kerin and Kess, walked out with... MY DAD!? For a second, I was totally confused. What was my _dad_ doing here? Then I remembered: he was Kirikage. Of course he'd be here, but only to make a speech. Suprisingly, he didn't.

"Congragulations, all of you. You have all made it passed the second part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. I'd like to call forward the proctor of the third part of the test, Murasaki Haide," Miho announced, stepping back.

A lady with long, purple hair walked up and cleared her throat.

"As you are aware, my name is Murasaki Haide and I'm the proctor for the third part of the Chuunin Selection Examination. This part is a physical combat test. Since there are too many of you, there will be a preliminary elimination round. If you'll look to your right, you'll see a screen. All of your names have been entered into a computer. The computer will randomly select two people and they will fight against each other. Everyone else will be asked to go up to the balcony, so as to avoid confusion. The winner will 

move on. If there is a tie, neither advances. You can give up if you want. You can do whatever it takes to win. The winner is decided when one of you either gets knocked out, forfeits or dies. Any questions?" She demanded.

"Is it possible to end up fighting one of your own teammates?" Pinky asked.

"Yes, it is. Anything else? Good. Let's get started."

She instructed everyone to go on the balcony. A beeping sound came from the screen thinggy. I could hardly believe what it said:

**Isameru Iyahon  
Vs.  
Uchiha Sasuke**

"The first match will be: Isameru Iyahon from Sogengakure viruses Uchiha Sasuke from Konohagakure," Haide announced. I smirked and jumped down to the arena, followed by the Uchiha runt.

"Just so you know, you're going to lose," the dumb shit informed me.

"I wish I had brought a fork for you so you could EAT YOUR WORDS!!" I shouted.

"Ready, begin!" Uchiha started by throwing a handful of shuriken at me.

I smirked and disappeared.

"Over here," I called, leaning against one of the walls.

He ran forward a bit and threw a kunai. A disappeared again, this time reappearing a foot behind him. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and I sank my fist into his gut, sending him flying into the wall.

"What are you?" He demanded, standing up.

I frowned.

"Ouch, that really hurt. You know, I don't think Risei will appreciate the way you're talking to me," I said, shrugging.

"Go Sasuke! You can take her!" Risei cheered.

"Or you know, not. Who's side are you on, Risei? Any who Uchiha, prepare to die."

I pulled out a kunai threw it at him. He caught it and ran at me again.


	11. Kicking the Uchiha's A

Sorry this took so long... I've just been so busy. Gomen.

* * *

I stepped out of the way just in time. Uchiha turned around quickly and tried to stab me again. I grabbed his arm and flipped him over himself. He got up and tried to punch me in the face. I grabbed his fist and kneed him in the stomach. He staggered a bit, but maintained balance.

"You know, I expected this to be much more fun," I informed him sadly. Sasuke growled.

_**'Iyahon, be careful. Don't underessstimate him.'**_

_'Bite me, you stupid snake!'_

_**'Watch it! Remember lassst time, Iyahon.'**_

I didn't have a chance to give him my response (did I mention that Hachimata's a dude demon and that at the moment, I was Aku-Iya?) because before I could, Uchiha friggin' punched me in the jaw. I took a bunch of steps backwards to keep my balance. There was about ten feet between us.

"Fuck!" I shouted, spitting on the ground.

Blood was mixed with saliva. The taste filled my mouth.

_'Damn it! Hachimata...'_

My thoughts trailed. It was too late. He was getting exited.

_**'Blood. I need it. Do you underssstand? Kill him! Make him regret not giving up! Make his blood spill and stain the floor!'**_

I tried to fight it as Hachimata attempted to take control of my body. I turned sideways without even realizing it. My tattoo was facing Uchiha directly. He must have noticed that I wasn't paying any attention to him anymore and he took advantage of that. He ran at me with a kunai. It was aimed directly at the green kanji on my arm.

_'No! I have to move! If that kunai hits my tattoo...'_

I refused to let Hachimata take control. The kunai came into contact with my skin. I winced in pain as the blade tore through my flesh. A puddle of my blood was beginning to form at my feet. The sight made my stomach lurch. I thought I was going to be sick. I looked at the kunai sticking through my hand. I had brought my right hand up to block the kunai and protect my tattoo. It worked. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the blade went through my hand, even the bone. Thankfully, it didn't touch the kanji. I pulled my hand back and grabbed the kunai from Uchiha, stabbing him. I added my chakra to the arm motion. The force sent him flying. His blood was on my hand, mixed with mine. I brought my hand up to my lips and licked the blood. My eyes widened as I realized with a pang of shock that I was wrong. My brilliant idea _hadn't_ worked. I was no longer in control. Hachimata was. More or less. Actually, it was less.

"No... No... Don't..." I breathed, trying to regain control.

Hachimata simply chuckled. Near the other end of the arena, the stupid Uchiha stood up again.

"Give up already! Do you _want_ to die?" I shouted.

I wasn't trying to be rude this time. I was trying to warn him. If he thought that I gave it all I had back in the forest, he had another thing coming. On second thought, I was bored. I wanted to keep fighting.

"In your dreams, shrimp," he answered.

"Now, you're dead," I growled. I did a few hand signs.

"Kukki Bushin no Jutsu **(Cookie Clone Technique)**!"

A bunch of chocolate chip cookies with arms, legs, hands, feet and faces appeared between Uchiha and I.

"You've got to be kidding me," Uchiha laughed, "cookies? Oh God, you are such a loser! What are you trying to make me do, laugh to death?"

That wasn't my plan, but that was what was happening. He was on the ground, clutching his sides, laughing. I waved my arm and the cookies disappeared. My jaw twitched as he stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes, that's how hard he was laughing. I did some more hand signs.

"Ninpou: Yori Shojiru Haka no Jutsu **(Ninja Art: Rising Graves Technique)**," I mumbled.

Skeletons came up out of the ground. I rarely ever used this technique. I only used it against Yureru because it scared the shit out of her. Too be honest, it creeped me out as well. The skeletons attacked Uchiha. He fought them back, but there were too many. I'm not saying they overpowered him. They didn't, and that was a problem. Soon, all ten skeletons were gone, leaving me more drained than I wanted. The other reason I hardly used this technique was that it took a lot of energy. I did another set of signs.

"Yukiyon: Kaji Arashi no Jutsu **(Snow Element: Fire Storm Technique)**."

I brought my left index and middle fingers up about a foot away from my mouth and blew. Fire and snow came out at the same time. When they reached my fingers, they split up and twisted around each other. That probably wasn't the best choice to use. I still hadn't gotten it fast enough. Even though he was tired, stupid Uchiha got out of the way. I noticed as his eyes turned red. He was fast, I'd give him that. Okay, and he was strong. It was like before, he was holding back, but now... Uchiha ran at me and rammed into my gut. The impact sent me flying into the wall.

"Kuso," I mumbled, getting to my feet.

I took a step forward and stopped to cough up some blood.

_'No... If I can't maintain what little control I have-'_

I coughed up some more blood. The taste remained in my mouth. I focused my chakra to my feet and ran at him, then kicked him in the stomach. I disappeared, then reappeared behind him and kicked him in the middle of his back. He, of course, went flying.

"You know, I honestly expected you to be stronger, like your brother. What was his name again? Atachi, Utachi... Bob! That's it, Bob!" I exclaimed.

"Itachi, you idiot!" Uchiha shouted, getting up.

"How did I get Bob out of Itachi?" I laughed.

I immediately became serious again.

"I'm going to kill you, runt."

"Do you have some kind of multiple personality disorder?" He demanded.

"Yup," I answered cheerfully, smiling.

I was switching between Aku-Iya and Eki-Iya faster than I was used to.

"Freak," he mumbled.

My smile immediately fell as I frowned.

"What did you jussst call usss?" Hachimata and I asked at the same time.

Both of our voices were audible. The combination of my slightly-deep-for-a-female voice and Hachimata's slightly-high-pitched-for-a-dude-snake-demon voice was a little akward, even to me.

"What are you?" Uchiha asked, his voice shaking.

"You should know, you moronic imbecile. I mean, between asking random losers for info and spying on us, I would have thought that you've figured it out by now," I said, shrugging.

"Monster."

I flinched as if he had hit me.

"Demon."

He began walking towards me. I didn't move.

"Murderer."

For some reason, Hachimata wasn't reacting to this, and neither was I.

"Animal."

He was getting closer, but I remained motionless. I wondered how many more similar adjectives he had.

"Freak."

He had already used that one, so I figured he was out of insults.

"Are you saying this about me, or all Jinchuriki?" I asked calmly.

"What?" He demanded.

"Look around, you moron. Including me, there are five Jinchuriki in this room. There are nine in total. Jinchuriki are people with one of the Bijuu inside of them. The Bijuu are demons with tails ranging from one to nine. Their names are Ichibi no Shukaku, Nibi no Nekomata, Sanbi no Isonade, Yonbi no Sokou, Gobi no Houkou, Rokubi no Raijuu, Shichibi no Kaku, Hachibi no Hachimata, and Kyuubi no Yoko," I explained.

"Which one are you stuck with?" Uchiha asked.

I smirked.

"Why don't you guesss," I hissed, pointing to my tattoo.

"Why do you have a demon sealed inside of you, anyway?"

"Villages create us for different reasons, be it to save the village, or use as a weapon. I was supposed to be one of the Rain Village's weapons."

I figured I might as well give him the full details before I beat him senseless.

"The Rain Village? One of? What are you talking about?"

He was even more confused than when I started. I sighed.

"I was born in the Rain Village. When I was three weeks old, they sealed the eight-tailed snake inside of me. The younger someone is when the demon is sealed inside of them, the less control the person has. The mother of the person is used as food for the demon. The Rain Village is full of morons, so nobody knew how to properly seal a demon inside someone, so each Jinchuriki from there has an extra seal," I told him.

"So you have a demon sealed inside of you, big deal. It's not like that makes you anymore of a threat," Uchiha scoffed.

"You don't get it. Creating a Jinchuriki is dangerous. The demon affects what our personality would be like without them. My multiple personality is a result of this. The Bijuu, for the most part, are blood thirsty and ruthless. This affects the host. Villages realize their mistake and try to kill the Jinchuriki. If the host dies, so does the demon. The village leaders send their strongest shinobi to kill the Jinchuriki. People fear us. They fear our strength and bloodthirsty nature. _That_ is why Jinchuriki are often virtually friendless and hate humanity. Because you jerks just can't deal with the fact that we're just a little bit different! We don't kill without provocation!"

I was shouting so hard that my voice cracked in several places.

"Provocation like me calling you short?" Uchiha asked curiously.

I, unfortunately, took it the wrong way.

"I AM _NOT __**SHORT**_!!" I bellowed.

"I... I didn't say you were!" He exclaimed, trying to calm me down.

It was too late. I was already too pissed. As of that moment, I had no idea what I was doing. I ran at him, focused my chakra into my arm, and punched him in the face. He went flying back into the wall. I stayed where I was, panting. Uchiha didn't move. Haide walked over to him.

"The winner of the first round is Isameru Iyahon," she announced.

My friends, even Risei, cheered. One of the Medical Nin dudes walked over to me.

"Um, could you come with us so we can take care of your injuries?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said, following him.

* * *

"Oh, ouch! Hey Kaika, look at this."

A second medical nin came over and looked at my swollen eye. She told me to close my good one and asked me how many fingers she was holding up.

"Two, three, one, five, four, none."

Next she moved to colors.

"Navy blue, light green, white, lavender, yellow."

"Well, you're lucky. You're eye seems to be in perfect condition. The swelling just needs to go down a little more."

She walked away and Hideko, the dude that was already taking care of me, put some new bandages over my eye. He had already taken care of everything but my hand. He looked at it in disbelief.

"Woah. You lost a lot of blood from here. I can't believe it went right through your hand. There's not much I can do. When this is over, I suggest you go to the hospital and have them look at it. Your eye as well," he said, wrapping bandages around my hand.

When he was done, I went back out onto the balcony thing and stood between Yureru and Gaara.

"Hey Iya, nice job," Yureru said with a smile.

"Thanks," I sighed.

I noticed a cloud of the smoke on the ground disappear. Pinky and Hinata were on the ground, unconscious. They were carried out on stretchers. The screen thinggy beeped and showed the next names:

**Saizu Yureru  
Vs.  
Hyuuga Neji**

Yureru chuckled.

"Have fun," I encouraged as she jumped down.

"Dude doesn't stand a chance," I yawned.

"Nope," Kerin agreed.

It was at that moment that I realized that she was on crutches.

"What did you do this time, Cripple-sensei?" I asked playfully.

She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Let the third match begin," Haide said.

We turned our attention back to the arena as Yureru and Neji got ready to fight.

* * *

A apologize to any and all Uchiha-bastard fans. I don't like him much. Flames will only be used to set his chicken-butt hair on fire.

-Opal Crimson-


	12. Yureru's Fight

I am really sorry this took so long. I have no excuse, save for I didn't know what to write for this one. This part it dedicated to a dead squirrel I saw on the road - cries - , and to my Neji-hating teammate, Roxey. WOOHOO!! This is your most important moment! (**Roxey**: Yay!! )

* * *

"Kukki Bushin no Jutsu!"

A bunch of cookies similar to the ones I had summoned, or whatever, appeared, and Yureru disappeared (actually, she just started running, but she was so fast, it looked like she had disappeared, but whatever). Neji's lip twitched as he tried not to laugh.

"Is that the best you can do?" He asked, throwing kunais at the cookies.

"Not even close," Yureru answered, attacking Neji with a kunai.

He blocked it with one of his own. Yureru "disappeared" again, then slowed down just to the point of visibility and rammed into Neji's back, sending him flying.

"Woah, she's fast," Kanuko noted.

"Speed's her specialty, eh," I told him with a small smirk.

"Makes sense I guess. What's Risei's specialty?"

"She's a freakin' genius. She's got, like, a 200 some I.Q, right?"

Risei nodded.

"Okay, so she's smart, she's fast, and you're annoying, right?"

My eye twitched. Gaara, I noticed, was trying very hard not to laugh.

I flicked him in the side off the head. He looked at me.

"What was that for?" He demanded.

"You were laughing," I answered, frowning.

"No I wasn't, you idiot," he growled.

I flicked him again.

"Apologize and I'll stop."

"Fine, I'm sorry I called you an idiot."

"And..."

"And I'm sorry I laughed when Kankuro called you annoying," he finished.

His hands were balled up into fists. I knew I was torturing him, and torturing people was fun.

"You're forgiven. What?"

Temari and Kankuro (I _finally_ got his name right) were gaping at me.

"You... You flicked Gaara! And you got him to talk _and_ apologize!! You're a miracle worker!" Kankuro exclaimed.

"I know, I rock," I grinned.

Gaara rolled his eyes. I wanted to flick him a third time, but I decided not to. Instead, I continued watching the fight. Blood trickled down the corner on Yureru's mouth. Neji stood about fifteen feet away from her, panting. He ran at her with a kunai. Yureru stepped out of the way just in time and elbowed him in the stomach. The force sent him flying.

"Hey Iya, you like talking. What's up with that? I mean, she just elbowed him, so why'd he go flying?" Kankuro asked.

"She put chakra into her arm," I sighed impatiently in a tone that implied that you would have to be an idiot not to have figured it out.

Yureru threw a fast kunai at Neji. It pierced him in the shoulder.

"How can you be so fast?" Neji demanded, pulling out the kunai.

"Prairie Ninjas are known for their speed," Yureru informed him.

She ran at him with inhuman speed and punched him in the gut. He flew into the wall. A couple seconds passed before he stood up shakily (yes, that is a word) and coughed up blood. A huge grin spread across Yureru's face.

"You don't give up easily, do you? Oh well, more fun for me," she laughed.

I chuckled to myself. She was starting to sounnd like me.

"What's so funny?" Gaara demanded.

I didn't answer. Yureru brought her hands up and began doing some hand signs.

"Yukiton: Odayaka Kosetsu no Jutsu **(Snow Element: Gentle Snowfall Technique)**!"

Snow started to fall inside the arena. The snow began to fall harder and harder. The more snow fell, the colder the room got.

"G-God, it's f-freezing in here! H-how d-do you p-p-people survive with th-this k-kind of-f t-temperat-ture?" Temari asked, her teeth chattering.

"It's usually worse than this in January and February," I informed her.

I decided not to tell her that it was a Genjutsu. Neji and Yureru were barely visible in the snow. The snowflakes gradually lessened (also a real word) until the only snow was on the ground. The snow was about two feet deep from the looks of it. It went up to Yureru's knees. I glanced around at the other shinobi. Everyone, other than Risei, Kess, Kerin, and I were shivering.

"Go Yureru!" I called. Yureru just smirked.

"You can't beat me! You're in my element now!" She laughed loudly.

"You stole that from me, eh!" I accused.

It was true. I tended to say that. Yureru ran at Neji at a normal speed. Not a normal running-through-two-feet-of-snow normal, but a normal track-and-field-event normal. Neji, clearly not being used to all the snow, didn't have time to move before she punched him in the face. He fell back into the snow. Yureru ran to the other end of the arena and threw a snowball at him just as he was getting up. I giggled as it hit Neji square in the face. Kerin laughed so hard that she fell off her crutches and grabbed onto me, bringing me down with her. I helped her up, commented that now _I_ needed crutches, and looked back at the fight. I noticed Yureru do a couple of hand signs.

"Not that technique," I groaned.

"Kyokenbyo Risu no Jutsu **(Rabid Squirrel Technique)**!"

A squirrel jumped out of nowhere and attacked Neji.

"Animal exploitation!" I shouted.

"Shut up, you animal loving freak," Kess said in a teasing way.

Neji, covered with scratch marks, threw the squirrel to the ground.

"Animal abuse!" I yelled.

"Oh, shut up Iya," Kerin smiled.

"Are you some kind of idiot using a technique like that? As if it could do much damage," Neji scoffed.

"Kick his ass!" I encouraged, pausing after each word.

Yureru did some more hand signs.

"Yuki Bushin no Jutsu **(Snow Clone Technique)**."

Three clones of Yureru appeared next to the real one. Neji smirked as veins appeared around his eyes.

"Dude, talk about creepy," I commented.

"It's called the Byakugan. You missed my first lecture, so do you want to hear this one?" Kerin asked.

"Just the main details are good," I replied.

"It's the Hyuuga Kekkei Genkai. It allows the person using it to see at a 360o angle. They can also see their opponent's chakra points," she explained.

I nodded to indicate that I understood.

"You think that using that technique will allow you to win? I can tell that none of them are the real you," Neji said, throwing kunais at the clones.

They exploded in bursts of snow. Neji whirled around and faced Yureru, who was doing a long series of hand signs.

"Sasori, nezumi, hebi, saru, kuma, neko, tori, kamo, niwatori, usagi, rakuda, kitsune, same, oushi, buta, uma, tora, inu! Inu Kiba no Jutsu **(Scorpion, rat, snake, monkey, bear, cat, bird, chicken, rabbit, camel, fox, shark, bull, pig, horse, tiger, dog! Dog Fang Technique)**!"

A dog came out of the ground and bit Neji's leg. As he attempted to kick it off, Yureru ran at him and punched him in the face. The dog disappeared, and the Hyuuga went flying.

"She's wasting alot of chakra. She shouldn't have used that technique. She hasn't mastered it yet," Kerin-sensei pointed out.

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," I said defensively.

Neji got up and ran at Yureru. She stepped out of the way just in time. He stopped right in front of her and slammed his palms into her shoulders. She skidded back a few feet. Kerin needed no provocation to explain.

"He stopped the chakra points in her arms."

"You're finished. You can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu because you can't focus chakra into your arms, and as for Taijutsu, you'll never get past my defense," Neji informed her.

"Are you mentally challenged or something? In case you haven't realized, Yureru's so fast, she could break your face, and you wouldn't even realize it until you notice blood flowing from your nose and mouth, and pooling at your feet!" I shouted at the Hyuuga.

"Yeah, what she said," Yureru smirked.

"Ew, Iya," Kess said.

"Iya, I'm not sure that was the best thing to say. You probably just made enemies with the Leaf shinobi you need as allies," Kerin said sternly.

She was right.

_'Oh well. Too late to take it back now.'_

Yureru disappeared less than a second before Neji went flying. Yureru appeared where he was standing a second earlier. I glanced at Neji and my eyes widened. He stood up again, bleeding all over. Blood was streaming down his arms and legs, and he was coughing up blood. I had no idea that Yureru could, or _would_ for that matter, do so much damage, and in so little time as well.

_'She must really hate him to go to such extremes. I kinda' feel bad for Hyuuga. What 'bout you?'_

No response from the demon. I sighed as Neji passed out from blood loss.

"The winner is Saizu Yureru," Haide announced. Yureru jumped back up, resumed her position between me and Kerin-sensei.

"Nice job," I smiled.

"Thanks."

**Sabaku no Gaara  
vs.  
Inuzuka Kiba**

The screen read.

"Good luck," I said to Gaara.

He simply grunted and in a swirl of sand, disappeared to the arena below. I sighed, folded my arms onto the railing and rested my chin on them.

"Hey, Iya," Kankuro began.

"Hm?" I looked at him lazily.

"It's really great that you're trying to be friends with Gaara. Don't take it personally if he acts cold to you, okay? He's not really good at acting... Human, for lack of a better word. No offense, or anything," he said.

Luckily, I was Eki-Iya.

"None taken. I know what you mean," I yawned, looking back at the arena.

Kiba was in a fighting stance with Akamaru next to him, while Gaara was simply standing straight with his arms crossed, an emotionless look plastered on his face. I noticed him glance at me from the corner of his eye. I smiled at him. I hoped that he wouldn't kill Kiba.

* * *

Is Opal forgiven? Yes? Tankoum!! Next chap'll be up mmmpphhhhnnnrrrr, okay? Promise.

-Opal Crimson, Master of Aux-


End file.
